


Trials and Miracles

by theragingstorm



Series: Trials and Miracles [2]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Abusive Hanna, Endgame Kristanna, F/M, Mild Sexual Content, Modern AU, Multi, Side Jelsa, set in Washington DC, snow sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-23 14:24:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 60,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3771604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theragingstorm/pseuds/theragingstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After living for years with her abusive fiance, Anna Winters isn't sure she knows what love is anymore. It takes an unexpected reunion with her long-lost sister, and meeting Elsa's grouchy employee, for her to understand it again. But even after she does...will she be brave enough to face her fears and misconceptions?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I originally posted this to my Tumblr (I'm theragingstorm there too), and actually finished it a couple months ago. Why didn't I post it here earlier? Mostly because I'm lazy.  
> But anyway: this is my first finished multichap, and I'm pretty satisfied with it! Especially the later chapters. Hope you like it too!

 

_Five Years Ago_

 

With the cliches of high school graduation fluttering behind her like dying moths, Anna Winters came home happy. School was over and adult life was beginning. Her friends had all hugged her and cried over leaving to the point of making her teary herself. Even her long-suffering teachers had all managed to say nice things about her (“Well, Anna, you always were my most…enthusiastic pupil”). Even though she’d had to sit through the long boring speech and wear that super-stifling gown over her clothing, it had been worth it. She was officially graduated from high school.

Humming happily, she walked into the swanky downtown apartment where she’d lived for the last eighteen years and threw her shoulder bag down on the couch. Promptly, she headed into the kitchen, taking in the place where she intended to soon leave. It was quite small; intended for and lived in by a small family. But it still managed to keep about fifty million breakable things in it. Obviously this was a recipe for trouble, since Anna had been both klutzy and curious for her whole life. Her father had used to joke about having to put a leash on her.  

Munching on a bag of Doritos, she dug her phone out of her pocket, checking her texts. Congratulating messages from relatives. A few of her more impatient friends complaining that she hadn’t texted them back. Oscar still wanted his favorite belt back (and it was still on the floor under her bed, where  _he’d_  left it). Nothing new.

So Anna pulled up a page on the Internet instead. Gazing at the advertisement of the apartment she wanted, she felt an even bigger smile spread across her face. Soon. Only a hundred dollars more, and that wouldn’t be too difficult to earn. She worked hard, and the patrons of Tiana’s Palace were hardly stingy with their tips. 

But in the middle of her bliss, her phone buzzed with a new text message.

_Be back home in 5 min. Need 2 talk when I get back. Don’t leave ur things on the couch again; it’s annoying. -E_

The grin evaporated from Anna’s face. Rushed, vague, and patronizing: a perfect description of her sister these days. Yet another perfect reminder of why she’d started looking for that apartment in the first place.

What was worse though, that three years ago, this wouldn’t have been an issue. The two sisters had still been the best of friends when their parents had hugged them goodbye and drove off to the airport. Their business trip was only supposed to last two weeks, but to fifteen-year-old and eighteen-year-old girls, it was an eternity of freedom.

To celebrate their newfound freedom the day their parents left, the two girls partied all day and night together. They’d binge-watched their favorite stupid comedies, sang karaoke so loudly one of their neighbors threatened to call the cops, had a brief and tension-filled game of Truth or Dare, cleaned the kitchen completely out of junk food, and commenced a battle to the death to win Mario Kart (Anna had easily creamed her very pissed off sister  _every single time_ ). 

Finally, at around midnight, Elsa had gone into her bedroom, dug around under her mattress, and brought out an unopened Ouija board.

“I thought that you didn’t believe in these things,” Anna had remarked even while opening the box.

“I don’t,” Elsa had replied with a shrug and a smirk. “But I do want to see what you – I mean,  _the board,_ obviously – can think up about me.”

“About you, huh? In that case, I’m in.”

The sisters had set it up and positioned it between the two of them on the floor. Anna put her hands on the spinner while Elsa rested hers on her knees. 

“Oh great Ouija board,” Elsa intoned, “what is the fate of us, the two greatest sisters in Washington D.C.?”

Out of the side of her mouth, she’d added, “Make it depressing. Apparently, in horror movies these things are all doom and gloom.”

“So what, you’re so cool now you’ve _never_ seen a horror movie? Sure, sure.”

“Just move it, Winters." 

Anna spun the needle and spelled out the message. 

SEPARATION AND BROKEN TRUST. YOU WILL LOSE EACH OTHER FOR YEARS.

Elsa raised one eyebrow. "Not bad for your first time, Sybil Trelawney. How about this one: Will my stupidly romantic sister ever find her true love?”

“Being romantic isn’t  _stupid,_ ” Anna grumbled as she moved the spinner again. 

SHE WILL BE BETRAYED BY THE ONE WHO CALLS HIMSELF HER TRUE LOVE.  

Elsa frowned, looking worried for the first time. “God, I hope not.”

“Me too,” Anna agreed. “I still want to someday meet my  _real_  true love. Someone who’ll love me and treat me right. Who’ll be there for forever.” She had sighed happily at the thought.

Even the more practical Elsa clearly couldn’t help smiling at her sister’s pure hope. 

“Okay then. Last question with depressing answers.” She took a deep breath. “Oh Ouija board, will we be happy in the end?”

Anna smirked. This one would be a doozie. 

YOU WILL GO THROUGH IMPOSSIBLE TRIALS. YOUR HEARTS WILL BE BROKEN MANY TIMES OVER. YOU WILL SUFFER LIKE NEITHER OF YOU HAS EVER KNOWN. LONG STORY SHORT, YOU’RE GONNA BE MISERABLE. THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.

For a moment, they were both silent. Then the two sisters burst out laughing.

“Oh my God, Anna, you’re a genius!” Elsa had cried, holding her sides. “ _Why_  didn’t I suggest this before?” 

“Obviously, it’s because  _I’m_  the smart one. Be comforted,” she’d added, “at least you got the looks.” 

Elsa’d rolled her eyes and playfully swatted her sister. “So what, now I’m the dumb blonde?” 

“That’s a distinct possibility,” Anna said perfectly seriously.

Elsa shrieked in mock indignation and threw a pillow at Anna.

“I won’t stand for this insubordination! I will now retire to my chambers,” she continued, posing dramatically, “where your dagger-like words can no longer hurt me. Farewell, fair cruelty.”

Anna laughed.  “Goodnight, Viola.”

“That’s Cesario to you, Lady Olivia.” 

Since it had been a Saturday on their day of partying, the two sisters had taken the opportunity the next morning to sleep in until noon. This meant that they’d missed the first, second, third, and sixth phone calls. It hadn’t been until their  breakfast-slash-lunch that Elsa checked the answering machine…and they’d found out about the plane crash. 

Present-day Anna closed her eyes and let the three-year-old memories play through her mind again. The funeral, with herself sobbing and Elsa delivering the eulogy with a face carved out of ice. The formal handing-over of the huge family business to a girl who’d only just recently graduated from high school. That same girl growing more and more distant from the world as she lost herself in her work and left her sister to grow lonelier.

Yes, it wasn’t fair to expect a college kid to take on such a huge responsibility virtually on her own. Yes, Elsa has been under a lot of stress and hasn’t been able to catch a break. Yes, of course she’d never abandon her own family.  

That’s what Anna’d told herself for those weeks, months, years, that she’d spent trying to reconnect with her sister. She’d initiated conversations, planned outings, even stooped to buying presents all to try and get her best friend back. But Elsa had only given her the cold shoulder the whole time. In the end, there was only so much ignoring a person could take, even from someone that they loved. 

As this thought ran through Anna’s head, the sound of a key turning in the lock startled her back to the present. She quickly tossed her Doritos bag in the trash and ran back into the living room just as Elsa came in.

Elsa’s pretty face was drawn and pinched, with dark circles like bruises under her icy blue eyes. Her blond hair was drawn up into its usual schoolmarmish bun, and she wore her usual modest cuts and dark colors. Her expression was carefully blank, her posture rigid.   

“Hi sis,” Anna greeted her quietly.

“I’ve  _told_  you not to leave your stuff lying around,” Elsa replied curtly. 

Scowling, Anna picked up her bag and slung it into her bedroom. She then came back in and flopped down on the couch. Her sister remained standing.

“C'mon, Elsa. No one’s gonna kill you if you sit down for once.”

“Anna, we need to talk,” Elsa began, ignoring her sister’s words.

Anna rolled her eyes. What was it going to be  _this_  time? She’d heard it all at this point: she needed to pull her grades up, she needed to take her life more seriously, she needed to stop wasting time with her friends, she needed to control her temper, she needed to respect her body better ( _that_ conversation had been particularly infuriating).

Elsa took a deep breath.

“I’ve made arrangements for you to go to a local community college. Your classes start on September third. You aren’t enlisted for dorm life, so you can still stay here.”

At the beginning of her sister’s declaration, Anna had sat up straight and gaped. Then she started to laugh.

“You can’t do this.”

“Yes, I can. I’m your legal guardian.”

“Not anymore now that I’m eighteen. I’m a legal adult, I’m done with school, I have a job. Ergo, I can do whatever I want. And ‘whatever I want’ does not include college.”

Elsa folded her arms and raised one eyebrow. “Oh? And what do you intend to do instead?” 

Anna smirked. “I’ve got almost enough money to move into a nice apartment. I intend to start my own life, without _you_.” 

For an instant, hurt flashed across Elsa’s face. Anna immediately felt horrible, and would’ve apologized; but in the next moment Elsa’s eyes grew as hard and cold as glacial ice. 

“But you can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you  _don’t_  have the money that you’d need for that.”

“ _What?_ ” Anna laughed. “Of course I do. I saved everything Mom and Dad left me, I’ve worked hard, I’ve double-checked my account. As soon as I get the last hundred bucks, the landlord’s got the papers all ready for me to sign. And then I’ll be home free.”

“No.” Elsa shook her head slowly. “I siphoned that money into my account under your name. Now, it’s part of the check that I sent off to that college. You have no choice but to go.”

For a moment, Anna stared at Elsa, dumbstruck. Then rage began to boil up inside her, blocking out everything except the other young woman’s face. For the first time since she was five, she felt the overwhelming urge to hit her sister. 

“You  _stole_  my  _money?_ ” she screamed, leaping to her feet.

“It was for your own good,” Elsa snapped. “Considering the way you’ve been acting in school lately, I’m amazed you’ve made it this far.” 

“ _For my own good?_ ” Anna was incredulous. “Since when have you cared about me and what I do?”

For the first time, Elsa looked uncertain of herself. 

“Of course I care about you–”

“Bullshit,” Anna spat. “You’re so wrapped up in yourself and what  _you_  think and want, you can’t take me and what I want into account anymore. For three years, it’s been all you you you, and I don’t care if you’re busy, you can’t pretend to  _care_  about me anymore.” 

Elsa’s icy demeanor finally broke.

“You think I don’t  _care?_ ” she roared. “Don’t you realize, you ungrateful brat, that everything I’ve been doing for the last three years has been for  _you?_ ”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it,” Anna retorted. 

“Maybe you can’t see it, because you’re so selfish and wrapped up in your own piddly-ass problems!”

“Maybe I can’t see it because it’s not  _there_. I’ve spent the last three years doing nothing but trying to be your friend again. But I guess I didn’t realize that you were nothing but a fair-weather friend.” 

Elsa’s face was crimson with fury. Her fists shook. But she didn’t speak, which Anna misread as a sign that she was winning.  

“Maybe you never really loved me anyway. But that’s fine. I’ve got a long life ahead of me, and I don’t need someone like  _you_  in it ever again. A cold-hearted, selfish, conniving b–”

Anna heard the blow before she felt it. But when she did feel it, the pain in her cheek and jawbone was so bad that she gasped aloud and her eyes welled up with tears.

For a few moments, the two of them just stared at each other, as if neither could believe what Elsa had done.

“Then leave,” Elsa whispered, her voice so soft that Anna barely heard it. 

With a sob, Anna ran into her room. Blindly, she threw her belongings randomly into her suitcases and trunk and stormed out. Out of her childhood home, away from her sister that had turned into a stranger.

 

 

At three-thirty in the afternoon in late spring, most American restaurants are empty of customers. Therefore, the staff of Tiana’s Palace were enjoying a well-deserved break from the hustle and bustle of mealtimes, and the frantic knocking on the door came as a surprise. 

The waitresses, gathered in one of the booths, were the first ones to notice it.

“A customer? Now?” Meg griped, taking a larger-than-normal swig of her coffee.

Nani went up to get a better look, and gasped in surprise.

“That’s not a customer,” she announced. “That’s Anna!”

“What’s Anna doing here?” Linda asked in concern, her brown eyes hidden behind curls of steam from her tea. “I thought that Tiana gave her the day off for her high school graduation. 

“Who can tell with Anna?” Chel pointed out with a shrug.

Nani opened the door, and the younger girl staggered in, dragging her belongings behind her and gasping for breath. 

The other waitresses made room for her on the booth, and she slumped down on it. 

“Anna? What happened?”

“I’ll…explain later,” Anna panted. “Where’s…Tiana?” 

“I’ll go get her.” Nani raced off.

“Anna sweetie,” Linda asked carefully, “is…everything okay?”

Anna shook her head.

Meg groaned loudly. “I  _told_  you that you shouldn’t fool around with those stupid boys. You know they only want you because you’re beautiful, when you’re worth much more than that.”

“Says the girl who’s so straight you could use her as a ruler,” Chel muttered into her coffee.

Anna gave a watery laugh. “Thanks, Meg. But no, it’s not about a boy. It’s about my–”

She was cut off when Tiana walked in. 

Tiana Rose Campos, the boss of everyone in the restaurant (including her husband Naveen), whose New Orleans heritage showed clearly in her skillful cooking. Whose normal no-nonsense demeanor fell away when she saw Anna. 

“Oh sweetheart,” she murmured in her rich Louisiana accent. She bent down and took the younger woman’s hands. “Are you alright?” 

Anna wiped her eyes. “Actually, no. My sister stole all my money to try and force me to go to college. Then I fought with her about it, and she kicked me out of the house.”

“She WHAT!?” the other waitresses screamed in outrage. 

“I was in P.E. with Elsa during high school,” Nani said, her face a mask of shock. “She was a hopeless athlete, but she seemed really nice.” 

“Didn’t she inherit a whole company when she was only eighteen?” Chel asked. “Sounds like she became obsessed. I knew a guy like that once. There was no room in his life for anything except his job, and he tried to force everyone to agree with him about it.”

“That might not be the only reason,” Linda pointed out. “Maybe she thinks that because college was right for her, it would be right for you.” 

“Or maybe,” Meg mused, “she has high expectations for you, and expects you to do well in life. Annoying, but parents can be like that too.”

Anna shrugged. “Well, she never told me anything about herself recently. So who knows what she was thinking? But now it’s too late.” She turned to Tiana, who’d been listening silently the whole time. “So, I just wanted to ask, I mean, if you don’t mind, if you’re not going to have any guests soon, if I won’t be too much of a pain in the ass–” 

“Anna,” her boss broke in. “What do you want to ask me?” 

Anna inhaled deeply to steady herself, and then said: “Could I…stay with you and Naveen for a while? You know, just until I can find a more permanent place?”

For a long few moments, Tiana didn’t say anything. 

“Yes, you may.” 

The other waitresses cheered, and Anna slumped down in her seat with relief.

“But,” Tiana added, and the cheering stopped. “You’d better find a permanent  place to live as soon as you can. I will let you stay with me as long as you need, but your own home is going to have to be your own choice. A

place that you really feel at home. Remember that.”

 

 

Anna replayed her boss’s words in her mind as she took a walk through the city in the heat of July. It had been more than a month since Tiana had spoken them, and even though Anna had been working herself like a mule the whole time, she had nowhere near enough money to get her own place.  

With a sigh, Anna took in her surroundings for the thousandth time. Downtown Washington D.C. was certainly nothing to sneeze at. But in her hot, tired, and downbeat state, it was hard to appreciate anything. Even her hometown. 

So she cast her eyes around looking for a place to sit down, and they fell on a flash of green. With renewed energy, she raced across the sidewalk and found herself in an open field. Delighted, she flopped down under a tree and soaked in the cool of the shade.  

But being herself, Anna couldn’t resist looking around to see where she was. When she did realize, she nearly cried. 

Seated on a massive chair behind huge marble columns was Abraham Lincoln. Obviously not the real one, but certainly a good likeness. As pedestrians walked by, Honest Abe stared down calmly at them with his stone eyes. Everybody was equal under his gaze, just like with the real president.

The Lincoln Memorial. Elsa’s favorite monument. 

Anna leaned back against the tree and shut her eyes. Apparently, there was no escaping the memory of her sister. Since Elsa and she had walked by here a million times, she should’ve known exactly where she was, so…did she even want to? 

Still lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the footsteps coming her way. She didn’t hear the excited barking, either. So by the time a slobbery dog tongue was making its way over her face, it was too late to do anything. 

“Acckpth!” she spluttered. “Ah! Ick! Pthahhhh!” 

The dog simply barked happily and kept licking her. 

“Sitron!” a man’s voice called out. “Sitron, where are–oh, God, not again. Sitron, here boy!” 

The dog gave Anna’s face one more lick before bounding away. As he did, a pair of expensive loafers connected to long denim-clad legs came into Anna’s line of view. 

“Hey!” she grumbled, wiping dog drool off her face. “Control your pets already! Haven’t you ever heard of a  _leash,_  genius?” 

“I’m so sorry,” came the same man’s voice. “He’s not normally so hyper. Are you hurt?” 

Anna looked up, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.  

Even wearing a simple white polo shirt and dark blue jeans, the dog’s owner was quite probably the most handsome man she’d ever seen. He was tall and lean and fit, like a tennis player. His rich auburn hair along was swept back and trimmed along with his neat sideburns, and his face was perfectly chiseled. His eyes, however, were the best part of him: beautiful hazel-green, and as brilliant as jewels. 

She suddenly felt insecure about every single part of herself: her clothes (her skirt was outdated, her tank top was dusty, and how long had she had those sneakers?), her hair (pigtails were too childish, what if he thought she was childish?), even her freckles (didn’t she read somewhere once that men didn’t like women with freckles?). 

“Are you okay?” he asked again. 

Anna found her tongue. “Oh, uh, sure, I’m fine, I mean, it’s not your fault, it was just your dog, not that I think you can’t control him or he’s a bad dog, I actually think he’s pretty cute, although cute dogs can be bad dogs, not that I think yours is! I think you’re pretty cute too, actually–wait, what?” She blushed furiously. 

He only chuckled gently and stretched out a hand. She gratefully took it, and he pulled her to her feet.  

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Where are my manners? I’m Hans. Hans Westergard.”

“Names? Oh yeah,” Anna babbled. “Anna Winters.” 

A strange look briefly flickered across Hans’ face. But it was gone so quickly, replaced by his luminous smile, Anna told herself that she must’ve imagined it. 

“Well, Anna Winters, Sitron and I were on our way to get some lunch and something to drink. You look thirsty; want to come?”

Anna couldn’t believe it. Here was a handsome, charming man being kind to her. He didn’t mind her weird rambling or her childish looks or her tendency to put her foot in her mouth. 

Maybe it was time to start over with a  _nice_  guy for once. 

“Yes, please.”

Hans took her hand again. She turned her back on the Lincoln Memorial and walked away with him into the city’s summer heat.


	2. Chapter 1

 

The alarm rang loudly and unceremoniously, startling Anna out of her dreams. Groaning, she flipped over and buried her face in her pillow, willing it to shut up. 

“Anna!” Hans called out from his vantage point in the kitchen.  _How_  he got up so early every day, she had no clue. “You know you need to get up! It’s grocery day!” 

He was right, as always. She  _did_  need to get up, even if she didn’t want to. 

Sighing, she whacked her alarm open-handed to silence it, then rolled out of bed before pulling on jeans and her favorite fuzzy green sweater. Late November was lingering over the city; gray, dismal, rainy November; and Anna had no intention of freezing to death before Christmas. 

After running a brush through her hair and tying it in its usual braids, she headed into the kitchen to get breakfast.

The kitchen, like everything else in Hans’ apartment, was spotless. The pots and pans gleamed, the floor was polished, and the counters didn’t have a speck of dust or food on them. Anna’s arms and wrists ached just looking at it all. She did have to admit it looked nice, though. Even if Hans  _hadn’t_  let her put a vase of flowers on one of the countertops (he’d insisted that it was unsanitary.)  

Speaking of her fiancé, he was already seated at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee and reading the news on his iPad. It wasn’t until she’d started pouring a mug for herself that he looked up at her. 

“Morning,” she said cheerfully.

“Morning, darling,” he replied. But then he frowned, and Anna braced herself.  

“Darling, are you sure that you should wear that sweater?"  

Anna looked down at it. She could see nothing wrong. It was light spring green patterned with purple crocuses; nice-looking and still plenty warm and comfy. Sure, there were a few holes in the cuffs, and the neckline hada couple strings coming loose, but did it matter? 

"Is there…something wrong with it?”

“No,” Hans said slowly, “it’s just…a bit old and ratty. And it doesn’t suit you. Why don’t you wear that white sweater I got you for your last birthday?” 

Anna hated that sweater. It was boring-looking, but had still been ridiculously expensive. Worse than that, it itched; and whenever she went outside in it she would shiver like a little dog the whole time. 

But she went and got changed into it anyway. 

Hans nodded in satisfaction as she came back. “Much better. Now, do you have the grocery list for when you go out?" 

“Yes,” Anna replied as she spooned sugar into her coffee. 

“You have the money I gave you yesterday for it?” 

“Yes.” 

“And you’re sure you know where you’re going?"  

Anna winced at the memory. "Yes."  

"Good.” Hans leaned back in his chair, pleased. 

Anna was quiet for a few moments as she got out the bread and jelly for toast, before she said, 

“Hans?” 

“Yes, darling?”

“Could I tell you about a dream I had?” 

He stood and took her hands, his green eyes meeting her blue ones. 

“Anna, you know you can tell me anything."  

She hesitated.

” _Anna,_ “ he repeated more insistently. "We must be honest with each other. You know that.”

She took a deep breath, willing herself to meet her fiancé’s gaze.

“I dreamed…I dreamed that I was riding a flying reindeer out of a hurricane,” she quickly lied. 

Hans, whose brow had been wrinkled with concern, immediately started laughing.

Anna laughed nervously too, although she wasn’t sure why. 

“I’m  _sure_  you did,” he smirked. “Tell me the truth, Anna.”

She bowed her head. “I…dreamed that I slept with another man.”

Hans seized her by the shoulders, his fingernails digging into her arm. “You  _cheated_  on me!?”

“It was just a dream!” she protested, trying to wiggle free. “Hans, I would never cheat on you, I wouldn’t! Please let go of me!”

“You’d better not,” he warned, his eyes darkening. “You know how I feel about betrayal, Anna.” His nails dug through the thin material of her sweater and into her skin.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It was just a dream. I’ll never be unfaithful. Just, please let go of me,” Anna begged.

He did so, the anger smoothing itself away from his face. He inspected his fingers.

“Anna…you made me chip a nail.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again. 

Hans sighed and sat down in his chair again. He was quiet for a minute or so, allowing Anna to finish making her toast and coffee. When she sat down in the chair opposite him, he spoke up again. 

“Oh, Anna. What am I going to do with you?”

She kept her eyes on her breakfast. “I don’t know.”

“First there was the incident last year when you let Sitron loose in that restaurant, then you dropped my credit cards down the toilet, then you tried to bring those dirty plants into the house, then you wanted to watch  _Parks and Recreation_  when I was trying to work, and now…” He trailed off. 

Anna wanted to cry. “Hans, I said I was sorry for  _all_  of those things. I told you they wouldn’t happen again.” 

Hans stared at her disapprovingly. “I don’t like it when you screw up, Anna. It reflects badly on you. On us.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Looking mollified by this, Hans thought for a minute or so. Then he gave her a long, intense stare.

“For now…I’ll settle for you going to get the groceries today and cooking dinner without screwing up. And after that…being ready for me when I come home from work.”

Swallowing hard, Anna nodded. 

“Good girl.” Hans rose from his seat and checked his phone. He frowned. “I hope that you didn’t make me late for work." 

Anna sat silently as Hans pulled on his jacket and grabbed his briefcase. Before he left, he kissed her goodbye.

"You know I love you, darling,” he murmured.

Anna hugged him. “I love you too.”

“I know,” Hans replied softly, nodding. 

Then he was gone.

 

 

Perhaps getting up at six in the morning on Sundays may not have been as necessary as Hans always made out. Even though it was grocery day, she never had work on Sundays, so she always had plenty of time to go shopping and even relax a little bit before and after. 

So Anna took a rare opportunity to please him. She vacuumed the apartment, she walked and fed Sitron, she dusted and applied polish to the already immaculate furniture, she made their bed, and finally she did her best to organize her own messy belongings. The last one may not have worked out so well, but at least the apartment looked nice. And Sitron would now lie down and sleep while she was gone, so that was taken care of too. 

Since Hans wasn’t around though, when Anna left with her purse on her arm and an umbrella in her other hand, she pulled on her bright green rain jacket, instead of the gray one that  _he_  liked. He didn’t have to know, and anyway, it was her favorite color. She could wear it for today.

 

 

Even at lunchtime on a rainy Sunday, Washington D.C. had its pedestrians. People came home from church in somber grays and browns. Business people and politicians hustled into restaurants and cafes to catch a break from the world of their jobs. A few stubborn tourists lingered around various monuments and museums and took blurry pictures.

Several sleek black cars irritably honked their horns at anyone they could, while a few others had their drivers merely roll their eyes and cruise their way through the light traffic. Taxi drivers and prostitutes alike waited around in places all around the city with nobody coming their way. The members of Congress relaxed and unwound by bragging about how they had won their elections. 

Anna, meanwhile, decided to tough out the freezing rain and walk to the grocery store instead of taking public transport today. On a day like this, no one would be expecting that many people going anywhere anyway.

That may have been a mistake on her part. For some reason, the way to the grocery store seemed a lot longer than she remembered. Not to mention her umbrella had gotten blown away in a surprise gust of wind. By the time she actually got there, she was completely soaked and frigid. 

Wrapping her wet jacket tightly around herself, Anna steadied her chattering teeth and started going through her list. Hans must’ve been in the mood for Italian, because her shopping cart steadily loaded up with pasta, packaged breadsticks, basil, cream, and various cheeses.  

It wasn’t long before Anna was almost through her list. The only things left now were the vegetables. 

_See, that wasn’t so hard, right?_  she thought to herself with a shiver as she entered the produce aisle. Her nose still buried in her list, she grabbed tomatoes, spinach, and now all she had to do was get carrots. 

She walked a little farther on down the aisle. Strange. There was only one bunch of carrots left.  

Anna shrugged to herself, and picked them up. She was about to toss them into her cart when somebody loudly cleared his throat behind her.  

“Hey. I need those.”

Anna wheeled around. Standing before her was a massive man with a scowl twisted across his face. His jeans were ripped, his boots were tracking mud on the floor, and his jacket looked like it’d been new during the Middle Ages. He was ridiculously bulky, and so tall that he loomed over her. His shaggy, unbrushed blond hair fell in his face, and his nose was too big. His eyes, regular old brown, were squinted up and glaring at her. 

“Excuse me?” 

He jabbed a finger at the bunch of carrots in her hand. “Those carrots. I need those carrots.” 

Now that she understood, Anna immediately switched from confused to annoyed. 

“Huh-uh, no way. I had these first. Go get your own.”

The blond man made a noise of frustration.

“Those are the  _last_  in the store,” he snapped. “I can’t just ‘go get my own.’”

“Well, go to another store or something. I need these.”

“What could you possibly need them for that could be so important?” the blond man demanded. 

“Cooking dinner for my fiancé. What do  _you_  need them for that’s so important?” she asked. It seemed like a fair question.

“None of your business,” he replied curtly. “But it’s more important than your need for them, so hand them over.”

Anna held the carrots at arm’s length away from him. “Nope. If I don’t even know what makes your being rude for no reason, I’m keeping these.”

The blond man stared at her incredulously. 

“Good God,” he exclaimed. “Are you  _always_  this stubborn and irritating?”

“Usually more,” she admitted. “How about you, huh? I certainly hope you don’t talk to your girlfriend like this! Wait, you’re not gay, are you?” 

He looked completely disgusted. “I’m not gay, and I don’t have a girlfriend. Are you  _ever_  going to give up those carrots?”

“Not until you tell me what you want them for.”

He groaned, then sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Anna could’ve sworn she saw him pick something out of there.

“My brother loves them. Well, it’s more like he’s addicted to them. And he’s a completely  _broke_ student working on his PhD so he can be a vet. Since he’s broke, I’ve been doing all his shopping lately, and he always asks me to pick up carrots for him. So I do. And the next grocery store is five miles away, and I’m fighting over the last bunch in the this one with a skinny pigtailed girl. If he knew, I bet he’d kick my ass.”

Anna was surprised to find that she believed him. Feeling guilty, she looked down at the vegetables and wondered if Hans, who had family money to spare, really needed them more than a broke kid. She still remembered what it was like to be broke.

“Okay,” she blurted.

For the first time, he looked confused. “Huh?”

“Okay. You can have the carrots,” she said, offering them out to him.

He hesitated.

“C'mon, it’s not like they’re poisoned. Go on. Take em.”

Still looking a little puzzled, he carefully took the carrots. His rough fingers brushed her skin surprisingly gently before he tossed them down into his own shopping cart. 

“There!” Anna said brightly. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?" 

He rolled his eyes.

“God almighty,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s not even that annoying talking to Elsa.”

Anna, who’d been about to wheel her cart away, suddenly froze.

“Say that again,” she demanded.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Now looking  _really_  confused, he repeated: “Um…it’s not even that annoying talking to Elsa.”

Too excited to be offended, Anna jumped forward and grabbed him by the arms.

“What the hell, woman!?” he barked.

“What’s her last name? This Elsa, what’s her last name? Please tell me!”

“Frost!” he yelped. “Her name’s Elsa Frost!”

More disappointed than she could’ve believed, Anna slumped against her shopping cart. She didn’t even know why she was upset. Elsa wouldn’t still want her around. Maybe it was a good thing that it was a false alarm.

“Why do you care what her last name is?” the blond man asked, rubbing his arms.

“Well…” Anna played with her hair. “I…I knew an Elsa Winters once. But that was a long time ago.”

“Winters?” His brow furrowed. “Winters…I think that was Elsa’s maiden name. Yeah, I think it was.”

Anna gaped at him for a second. Then she let out a scream so loud that half the shoppers turned and stared at them. One muttered something about dramatic teenaged girls.

“Goddammit, woman!” the blond man yelled, clapping his hands over his ears. “Are you trying to make me deaf!?” 

“She’s  _married!?_ ” Anna shrieked. “My sister got  _married!?_  I don’t believe it! After all those years of wondering if she was asexual,  _she’s_  the one who got married first! Ha! If she were here and we were still speaking, I sure would tease the hell out of her, you’d better believe it!” 

“What…? Hold up.” He pointed at her. “Elsa’s your sister? But she said…wait a minute. What’s your name?” 

“Anna Winters. Nice to meet you. What’s yours?”

“Kristoff Bjorgman,” he said in a daze. “Wow. Who’d have guessed that  _I’d_  find Elsa’s long lost sister? You even…you even look like her.” 

Anna was surprised and flattered. Most people, upon finding out that the plain clumsy girl with freckles was the beautiful Elsa’s sister, had just seemed confused that they could possibly be related. 

Then the rest of what Kristoff had said sunk in.

“She…talks about me? What does she say?” 

He shrugged. “Um…that you were close when you were younger but she drove you away. That she misses you. That when you were five and she was eight you two built a snowman and named it after your kindergarten friend. That you once had a stuffed dinosaur called Mr. Wiggles. Is she supposed to say something in particular?” 

“She remembers Mr. Wiggles?"  

Kristoff sighed and looked at his wrist. He was wearing an actual watch; which was something Anna hadn’t seen in a while. 

"Look, Anna, I’ve got to get back to work. I know you want to see your sister again, maybe I’ll give you her address–”

“No.” 

“What?” 

“I don’t want to wait. Take me to see my sister.” 

Kristoff stared at her in disbelief.

“I don’t take people places,” he grumbled. “And I need to work. And I barely even know you! Didn’t your parents ever warn you about strangers?”

“Okay, first of all, that wasn’t a request,” Anna retorted, growing bolder (and ignoring the last bit). “And second of all – wait, what actually is your job anyway?”

Kristoff opened his mouth for a moment, then shut it again, before mumbling, “I’m a truck driver and deliverer for Arendelle’s.” 

“So  _that’s_  how you know her! Actually that’s great. If you work for Arendelle’s, then you can drop me off where Elsa works, and then you’ll be able to go straight back to work. And after that…you’ll never have to deal with me ever again. So…whattaya say?" 

Kristoff stared at her dubiously, then sighed. 

"I must be out of my mind,” he said to himself. Out loud, he said, “Okay.” 

Anna jumped around in delight. 

“Really? You’ll take me to my sister?” 

“ _Yes,_ ” Kristoff groaned in exasperation. “Now let’s pay for our stuff and get going before I change my mind.” 

“No time for that!” Anna declared. “We gotta go  _now!_ ”

She seized Kristoff by the wrist and dragged him off across the grocery store, with him shouting behind her, “At least let me pay for my carrots!”

So she slowed down enough for him to pay for the carrots, tapping her foot on the floor and fidgeting impatiently the whole time he was bickering with the cashier. By the time he’d finally paid, she seized him by the wrist again and pulled him across the parking lot in the exact opposite direction of where his truck was parked.

Eventually, though, Kristoff redirected her over to where the huge bright blue truck with the words  _Arendelle’s Ice_  was emblazoned across the side. Anna gazed up at the familiar logo, and felt a twinge of doubt. It had been more than five years. What if, despite what Kristoff said, Elsa didn’t want to see her and was fine on her own? After all, she was married, and might have kids. She was president and owner of a company with stocks at a record high. Even without that, Elsa was the smart one, the capable one, the beautiful one. Why would she need her screw-up little sister tagging after her again?

“Hey, freckles,” Kristoff called from the driver’s seat of the truck. “Are you coming or not? I can’t wait all day.”

Anna shook her head and climbed into the shotgun seat. 

 

 

The drive was short but quiet, only punctuated by Anna’s efforts at conversation and Kristoff’s monosyllabic answers: 

“So, how long have you worked for Arendelle’s?” 

“Four years.”

“That’s cool. Hehe. Ice cream is cool. Do you like your job?”

“It’s fine.”

“Okay, um…what’s your brother’s name?”

“Sven.”

“Does he know Elsa too?”

“Yes.”

“Is she okay? How’s she doing?”

“Fine.”

“…”

“Are you just going to answer all my questions like that?”

“Yes.”

The factory building where Elsa worked was nearly a half-hour drive away, so Anna had to deal with a lot of awkward and boring silence. She couldn’t even listen to the radio either, because every time she tried to put on one of the stations she liked,  _somebody_  kept barking at her to “Turn that pop shit  _off!_ "  

By the time the truck pulled up in the building’s parking lot, Anna was simultaneously excited, relieved, and terrified. Playing with her hair nervously, she let Kristoff lead her through the actual factory with the whirring machines, into the elevator, and up to the thirteenth floor. 

Kristoff pushed open a door and Anna was greeted with the sight of a plump middle-aged woman seated at a cluttered desk and typing away furiously at her desktop. 

"Hi, Maudie,” Kristoff greeted her. “Is Elsa busy?” 

Maudie looked up from her work.

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” she replied in a Scottish accent. “Um…” She picked up her phone. “Ms. Frost, Kristoff’s here to see ye. He wants to know if yer busy…No, he didn’t say why. No, I don’t know, but it might have something to do with the strange lass that’s with him. What? Oh, she’s about my height, reddish hair in two plaits, freckles aaaallllll over, big blue eyes…What? Ohhh. Alright then.” 

Maudie hung up the phone and stared at Anna, making her feel slightly uncomfortable.  

“Well, Kristoff, show the young lassie in.” 

“Thanks, Maudie,” Kristoff replied, then guided Anna over to another door in the side wall. It was a perfectly ordinary-looking door, but Anna stared at it like it was made of snakes.

Kristoff looked at her again, studying her expression. A strange look came across his own face. 

“You know,” he said quietly, “if you don’t want to do this, it’s not too late to leave.” 

Anna took a shuddering breath. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just…what if…she doesn’t want to see me?” 

Kristoff exhaled softly, and was quiet for a moment before he spoke. 

“My mom…has this saying that she uses whenever I say that. 'What if? What if the moon turns into cheese? What if the oceans dry up and fire turns to ice? What if the New York Mets win the World Series this year? There’s no good what-iffing, Kris. Yeah, the worst might happen, but what if…what if the best happens?’” 

Anna smiled. “I’d like to meet your mom.”

“Yeah, I think she’d like you.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway. Wanna see your sister?”

Anna lifted her chin. “Yes, I do.” 

Kristoff turned the knob and opened the door. 

The room’s walls were painted bare white, and the desk was plain black wood, but the decorations made up for that. The desk was crowded with a desktop computer, a bowl of chocolate truffles, framed photos, a few knickknacks, and a souvenir mug full of pens. The walls were hung with a huge printed photograph of a Norwegian fjord, an old license plate from Pennsylvania, a few paintings that looked like Elsa’s own, an autographed Taylor Swift poster (Anna was so jealous), and a sign that read:  _Beware of Attack Housewife._  The blue-painted bookshelf over in the corner was overflowing with nonfiction, fantasy, bestselling novels, a few mythology collections, and a big stack of  _Glamour_ magazine back issues. In the middle of the room stood a tall woman in heels and stylish clothing with her platinum blond hair arranged in a fancy braid and her back to the door. 

Anna walked forward a few paces, almost spellbound. 

“Elsa?” she called softly. “It’s me, Anna.” 

“Anna?” 

Elsa turned around. Anna gasped.

Her sister had always been beautiful, but she’d never really seemed to recognize or accentuate her beauty before. Now, she wore makeup and fixed her hair. Instead of her dark, modest clothing she wore a tight skirt, stilettos, and a silky sky-blue blouse that clung to her figure. A slim gold wedding band glinted on her finger. Anna knew it was supposed to be the  _older_  sister that felt this way, but she still couldn’t help thinking:  _She’s…she’s all grown up._

“Whoa, Elsa,” she breathed. “You look…different. It’s a good different!" 

“Thank you,” Elsa replied softly, staring at her sister like she’d never seen her before. She stepped forward a few paces and reached out her hand until it was only a few inches from Anna’s cheek. “I…didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” 

“Me neither,” Anna admitted. “Oh, Elsa, I’m so sorry. I said horrible things to you–” 

“No, no,” Elsa interrupted, letting her hand cup her sister’s cheek. “I…look, it’s not your fault. I  _was_  a bitch. I thought I knew best, and didn’t consider what you might want.” 

Anna smiled ruefully even as she felt the touch of her sister’s cool fingers. “Runs in the family, I guess.” 

The corner of Elsa’s mouth twitched.  

“It seems like we have a lot to catch up on,” she said softly. “You and Kristoff too.” 

“I thought I had to get back to work,” Kristoff frowned. 

“No,” Elsa replied briskly. “I want you to come with us too.” 

“Come where?” Anna asked.

Elsa paused in the middle of getting her purse and looked at her sister again.  

“We’re going to get coffee, of course. Now come on. The three of us have a lot to talk about.”


	3. Chapter 2

Anna couldn’t believe it. It had to be a dream. For the first time in eight years, her sister wanted to  _go_ somewhere with her. 

“Say that again, Elsa?”

Elsa shimmied on her jacket and wrapped a scarf around her neck. Then she picked up her purse and began tossing things in it.  

“I said that we’re going out for coffee. Yes, including you, Kristoff.”

He and Anna gaped at her and then at each other.

“Um, Elsa…” Kristoff said slowly, “You do know your sister is a nutcase, right? Can I just get back to work instead?”

“Of course I know she’s a nutcase. I had to live with her, remember?”

“Uh, excuse me,” Anna interrupted. “You guys. I’m  _right here._ ”

“But,” Elsa continued. “I still want you to come with us. You’re my friend, and she’s my sister, and I want to get to know her, and I want you to get to know her." 

"Why  _me,_  though?”

“Hey! Right  _here!_ " 

"You mean instead of Rapunzel or Jack or someone like that?”

“Exactly. Rapunzel’s your cousin, and Jack’s your husband. Wouldn’t  _they_  be more qualified to get to know your sister better first?”

“Oh for God’s sake, I’m  _right here_ –wait, Rapunzel’s our cousin? Since when?”

Elsa rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Kristoff, they  _are_  part of my family. And I do intend to introduce her to Jack, and re-introduce her to our old friends. But you’re my friend too. And you’re already here. So why are you making this a bigger deal than it needs to be?”

Kristoff scowled at her, but didn’t argue.

“Excuse me, both of you,” Anna yelled. “I’m  _RIGHT HERE._ ”

Both of them turned and looked at her. Elsa raised her eyebrow and grinned.

“I forgot how bossy you were,” she admitted. 

“Well, I’m always glad to jog your memory, trust me,” Anna smirked. “But uh, does Christopher really have to come too? He’s kinda rude. Okay, he’s very rude.”

“It’s  _Kristoff!_ " 

"You heard me Anna; he’s my best friend. He’s coming too.”

Anna wrinkled her nose and looked at Kristoff.

“If  _you’re_  Elsa’s idea of friendship and love, I can’t wait to see what her husband’s like.”

Kristoff glared at her.

Elsa moaned and buried her face in her hands.

“Okay, look you two,” she said between her fingers. “I don’t care if you hate each other for the rest of your lives, can you please at least pretend to like each other for a couple hours? Please? It won’t kill you.”

Still glaring at each other, they nodded.

Elsa exhaled in relief and took her hands off her face. 

“Okay, good. Now, let’s go.”

“Could you hold my hand?” Anna asked as they walked out of the office under the bright lights. “I don’t remember the way out of this maze.”

Elsa jumped. 

“No!”

Anna started back in surprise. Elsa looked back and winced.

“Just…just try to stay in sight of me,” she said eventually.

Anna fought down a surge of disappointment as the three of them headed into the elevator. It was a long way down, and they rode together in silence, with only the Muzak playing from the overhead speakers to break it. 

The unspoken no-talking rule stayed unbroken after they’d left the factory, gotten in Elsa’s blue hybrid, and started off down the road towards downtown D.C. Even when they did start off, it still stayed quiet for a long while.

It wasn’t that it wasn’t pleasant in the car. It may have been high-end expensive, but it was warm and dry, a stark contrast to the dreary gray sky and the rain slapping angrily against the windows. The seats were relaxingly cushy. The speakers played soft jazz music, like they did in Tiana’s Palace. But Elsa’s excitement had melted away since they left her office. She was sitting up ramrod straight, periodically squeezing the steering wheel, and gnawing on her lip until blood showed against her lipstick. She didn’t look at either of her passengers and kept her eyes glued to the road in front of her.

Anna in the meantime, stared at the back of her sister’s head, unsure of what to say. She could also feel Kristoff’s irritability radiating out from where he was sitting right next to her, and it didn’t help her nerves. 

Chewing on her own lip, she opened her mouth and shut it a few times before blurting out,

“So, Elsa, do you go out on coffee dates with your friends a lot?”

Internally, she smacked herself.

Elsa looked over.

“Well, no, not really. Usually, I make coffee at home. Why?”

“Ummm…no reason. I was uh, just wondering. I mean, I still don’t know very much about your personal habits or life anymore. I mean, when you and I still lived together you made coffee all the time, sure, but I didn’t know whether you still did that or not. You also used to not eat very much. And snore. And yell advice at the characters when you watched movies. Do you still do any of that? Cause I still go off on random tangents. Like what I’m doing right now. Sorry.”

Elsa didn’t turn around again, but in the rear view mirror Anna could see her lips twitch.

“Well, I actually eat meals now. But I do still snore. And still yell at the TV. And do a lot of other annoying things.”

Anna leaned back.

“Yeesh.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“No, it’s not  _yeesh,_ ” Kristoff interrupted. “It’s being human. Nobody can be perfect.”

Both sisters turned around and looked at him.

“What? It’s true. Do either of you two know  _anybody_  who’s perfect? Or even  _seems_  perfect? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

Elsa nodded and swiveled her eyes back to the road, while Anna sat back in her seat, feeling uncomfortable. She stared at her obviously apprehensive sister for a little while longer.

“Elsa, are you sure you’re okay?”

Elsa started, and laughed a little.

“Oh, I just…don’t like driving. Nothing to worry about.”

“I keep telling her that she should let  _me_  drive,” Kristoff added. “But she won’t.”

“Because that is an example of a man being paternalistic with a woman,” Elsa called back.

“No, that is an example of one friend who would like his other friend to avoid being freaked out every time she steps into a vehicle.”

Anna laughed as Elsa glared at him via the rearview mirror.

“Can I just drive my own car without it being questioned?”

“Suit yourself.”

“And it doesn’t even matter anymore, because we’re there.”

“Oh, good.” Anna sighed. “I was gonna say ‘Are we there yet?’ in a really annoying whine, but that’s not necessary anymore.”

Kristoff rolled his eyes as Elsa pulled into a parking space.

“Just get out of the car, ginger.”

“For your information, mister, it’s  _strawberry blond!_ ”

They were still bickering about Anna’s hair color as Elsa led them into the Lucky Cat Cafe and over to an unoccupied table. They were still at it when she bought coffee and pastries from the brunette woman running the cafe and came back to the table.

“Anna, I hope you still like caramel lattes and chocolate creme donuts because that’s what I got you, and Kristoff, here’s your oh-so-manly black coffee and your blueberry muffin– _why_  the hell are you two still arguing about  _hair?_ ”

“It’s  _my_  hair! Don’t you think I would  _know_  what color my own hair is!?”

“It still looks red to me.”

“It’s  _strawberry blond,_  you colorblind mule!”

“What the hell even is strawberry blond? It sounds like a pretentious made-up thing. Like, shut up, it’s fucking red.”

“Okay, that’s it. You do  _not_  use references from one of my favorite shows to call me stupid!”

“This is new,” Elsa muttered into her iced coffee as Anna threatened to strangle Kristoff with his own hat. “I forgot what a temper Anna has.”

“I heard that!”

“Hey nerds,” snapped a short girl with choppy black hair over at another table. She was surrounded by her four friends, and they were all staring. “Could you keep it down? Some of us actually come here to have coffee and eat, not to act like we’re on  _Jerry Springer._ ”

“Uh, Gogo,  _we’re_  nerds. And it’s really none of your business what other people do,” pointed out the tall buff guy sitting next to her.

“Are you kidding me? Not even the free drinks are worth all this ruckus.”

“Sorry,” Anna mumbled, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I didn’t mean to bug you.”

“Me neither,” Kristoff added with surprising sincerity. 

“Honest, we were just fighting over the color of my hair.”

“And it’s very nice hair,” chimed in the only other girl at that table, a pretty blond with red glasses. “I wish mine were strawberry blond too instead of just regular blond.”

“Honey.”

“What?”

Anna smirked triumphantly at Kristoff, who immediately scowled and pretended to be engrossed with the handle of his mug. Apparently satisfied, the quintet over at the other table went back to their free drinks.

Another of her small smiles flickered across Elsa’s face.

“So, to distract you two from killing each other…Anna, what have you been up to in the last five years?”

“Oh lots of stuff, obviously,” Anna replied, slurping her latte. She had decided that now was a bad time to tell her sister that she didn’t like caramel anymore. “Work’s steady as always, cause everyone still wants authentic home-cooked food in this lovely age of McDonalds. I’ve been able to still go on runs in the evenings. I haven’t been able to keep in as close contact with my friends as I’d like, though.”

Elsa digested this for a moment while busy fidgeting with her coffee cup.

“Hey. You okay?”

“Did you…manage to…find a place to live after I kicked you out?”

“Whoa, what?” Kristoff broke in. “You kicked her out? You told me that you drove her away!”

“Yeah, I kicked her out,” Elsa admitted. “We had a fight because I’d tried to be too controlling, we insulted each other, I lost my temper.”

“ _Tried_  to be too controlling?” Anna echoed. An old surge of resentment began to rise. “How about _succeeded_  in being too controlling?”

Her sister’s eyes narrowed.

“I was still trying to help you, Anna. And I know that I won’t do it again. At least understand that.”

“You’ll  _never_  be too controlling again? Yeah, sure.”

“Hey, quit it,” Kristoff interrupted as the two women glared at each other. “Both of you. It happened a long time ago; you should forgive each other. Uh, Anna, you did find a place to live, right?”

Anna’s old expression softened and a grin lit up her face.

“Oh, I found better than that. I found a fiancé who’s willing to let me live with him.”

“You found a WHAT?” Elsa yelped, spilling coffee all across the table. Several other customers turned and stared.

Anna pointed warningly at her sister.

“Elsa, I told you: don’t be controlling. And you got  _married;_  you have no right to criticize me." 

Elsa did hold her tongue as she mopped her spilled coffee off the table. But she kept giving her sister an incredulous look.

"So, you’ve got a fiancé, huh? When did he pop the question?” Kristoff asked.

Anna thought for a moment. 

“Five years ago last August.”

“So…you only knew him for what, a month before getting  _engaged?_ ” Kristoff sounded dumbfounded. 

Anna shrugged.

“Uh, yeah. So?”

Elsa knocked over her coffee again.

“Shouldn’t you…get to know him a little better first before deciding to spend the rest of your life with him?”

Anna shook her head.

“We know each other,” she insisted. “He understands me better than anyone else. It’s true love. Besides, we’ve now been together for years. Is that enough time of 'getting to know him’ for you?" 

"The years thing is fine,” Kristoff admitted grudgingly. “But I personally don’t think that you should be so insistent that it’s 'true love.’”

“Why not? It is. I love him and he loves me.”

“Oh please. That’s what they all say.”

“What do you mean, 'what they all say?’” Anna demanded. “You act like you meet heartbroken angsty women all the time or something.”

“He doesn’t,” Elsa offered.

“You’re really not helping. Aren’t you annoyed that she got engaged to someone that she hadn’t known very long?”

“Hey!” Anna protested indignantly. “Why are you making my sister gang up on me with you?”

“He’s not,” Elsa replied simply. “But yes, Anna, I agree with him. You should’ve waited to get to know him before agreeing to marry him. You know, try to make sure that it’s actually true love first. Life’s not a fairy tale.”

Anna groaned in frustration and let her forehead drop into her hands. 

“Just like I expected. Look you cynics, it’s love, okay? Can’t I just marry the man I love already,  _without_ it being questioned?”

“Look, I just think–” Kristoff started, but Elsa cut him off.

“Maybe this would all be easier to digest if we knew his name.”

Slightly mollified, Anna replied,

“Hans Westergard.”

Kristoff remained impassive, but Elsa’s mouth dropped open.

“Westergard?” she echoed.

“Um, yeah?” Anna replied, feeling confused. “Why?”

Elsa sat back heavily in her chair. She exhaled sharply and ran her hands through the top of her hair.

“I know his family,” she explained. “You know that they own that chain of restaurants, The Southern Isles?”

Anna nodded. Of course she knew. Hans often talked about his family’s business at home. Apparently, they had once been greatly hailed for their unusual Danish haute cuisine. Unfortunately, several years ago there’d been a nasty incident involving the president getting extremely sick from badly cooked meat, and the family had lost a lot of customers and money. The Westergards were still rich enough to quite literally roll around in their money, but they never got back the fame they’d once had. This was why whenever Hans talked about work, it was usually to complain about it.

“I do business with them,” Elsa explained. “I’m their biggest supplier of ice cream. Since all the ones that I’ve met tend to be unbelievably pigheaded and keep changing our deals, I always end up going to a lot of quote-unquote 'discussions’ with them. But I’ve never met one named Hans.”

Anna suddenly felt defensive.

“Well, you know since he’s the youngest of thirteen brothers–”

Kristoff choked and spat a mouthful of blueberry muffin on the table.

“ _Thirteen?_ ” he interrupted. “Was his mother part rabbit?”

Anna glared at him and kept talking.

“So he gets overshadowed by the rest of his family a lot. His older brothers don’t take him seriously, even though he works just as much as them. So that’s why you probably didn’t see him at your meeting-thingies.”

“Ah.” Although she was still frowning, Elsa leaned back in her seat and took a sip of what was left of her coffee. 

“But Elsa, you didn’t tell me anything about  _your_  love life. I’m just gonna take a shot in the dark here and assume that Bjorgman’s is nonexistent.”

“Shot in the dark, yeah right,” he scoffed. “I told you I was single.”

Elsa’s eyes grew a little wider. She rubbed the tops of her arms as if she were cold. 

“Well, not much to tell really. We met three years ago. We dated a while. We’ve been married for the last year and a half.”

“Is that are there is to tell? That doesn’t sound complete.”

“Really,” Elsa insisted. “There’s not much to tell. Anna, I just…never mind.”

“That can’t be all there is,” Anna pressed.

“That’s not. She should’ve told you that I can never get a wink of sleep whenever I stay overnight at her house.”

“Kristoff.”

“Really?”

“Would I lie about my boss?”

“Kristoff.” Elsa’s face was scarlet. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Or I swear, I will cut your salary for real this time.”

“Well, if you’re not going to be honest with your own sister…”

“Honesty is good,” Anna agreed. “I like honesty.”

“Well, you’ve been nothing but,” Elsa admitted grudgingly. “I mean, the way you’ve described him actually makes me kinda want to meet this Hans.”

Anna contemplated that idea with dread.

“Well, I dunno, Elsa. I’m not too sure that he’d like you all that much. You can be kinda overbearing, and he definitely won’t like that. Also, you might want to not wear blouses with such a low neckline. Maybe I could just commute back and forth between you two or something?”

Elsa, who was just finishing off her peach pie, looked up in shock. Her eyes flickered.

“Overbearing? I’m not…you know what, never mind that. What’s–” She looked down at her chest. “What’s wrong with my blouse?”

Anna choked.

“No, no!  _I_  don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I just don’t know if Hans would – I mean, he might think that – I would never tell you something that was – oh, God, Elsa, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way at all!" 

"No, no,” Elsa insisted, although she still looked hurt. “You don’t have to apologize. I just think that it would be a good idea for me to meet the man my sister’s going to marry. If that’s alright with you, I mean.”

“Well, it would be fine with  _me._  I’ll have to ask Hans, though.”

Elsa, clearly not satisfied, only nodded.

Kristoff looked back and forth between the sisters and cleared his throat loudly. 

“Well, I’m done,” he announced. “You two ladies ready to leave?”

“Yeah,” Anna said. She dug her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. “Yikes. Okay, I  _really_ gotta go.”

“Alright,” Elsa replied softly. Then she straightened up and became all business. “Anna, if I’m gonna drive you home I need your address.”

“Oh, right!” Anna grabbed a pen and her sister’s hand and scribbled her address on it. “Second floor, apartment number 213. In case Hans agrees to let you visit sometime." 

"Okay, then,” Kristoff said, as he looked strangely at Anna. Elsa started staring at her hand like she was trying to memorize the address. “Elsa, you paid?”

“Yeah…”

“Then let’s go!” Anna decided. “I gotta get home.”

Elsa stood up. 

“Then let’s get going. And Kristoff…”

“Yeah?”

“After this, you really need to get back to work.”

“Ah, damn it." 


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I put a blanket warning for abuse/rape, but there'll be a couple chapters where it'll especially have that. This is one of them.

 

The car ride back to Anna and Hans’ apartment building was clouded with inane chatter, all of it on Anna’s part. Feeling as if she somehow had to make up for the awkwardness of their coffee date, Anna filled her companions’ ears with every kind of small talk she could think of:

“Man, those elections for the Senate didn’t go so well. I mean, both branches full of Republicans? With a Democrat president? That’s not going to end happily.”

“Oh by the way, Meg told me the other day that she’s getting married. Can you believe her? That filthy hypocrite.”

“I dunno, I like the original version of ‘Flawless’ a lot on its own, but Nicki Minaj just makes it so badass.”

“Do you think that the economy in Russia’s gonna get any better? Because I don’t.”

“The weather really sucks right now. Guys. I’m actually talking about the weather. I’m that desperate. Speak to me." 

Kristoff was completely unreadable the whole time. Elsa may have been trying to both listen and drive, but she was so focused that it was hard to tell. Eventually, Anna grew frustrated and just let the car lapse back into silence. 

After what seemed like hours, they pulled up in front of the apartment complex.

"Here we are,” Anna announced somewhat obviously.

Kristoff eyed the high-end building rather critically.

“Not too shabby, huh?” he commented.

“Yeah, I guess,” she replied self-consciously, tucking a lock of loose hair behind her ear. “Like what you said about the Westergards, Elsa.”

“What, that they’re all filthy rich?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Figures,” Kristoff muttered.

They all sat there wordlessly for a few heartbeats, staring up at the building. Anna suddenly felt extremely embarrassed; which was stupid. It wasn’t like Elsa was low on money, and whatever Kristoff’s problem with rich people was, it wasn’t hers or Hans’ to worry about.

“Well, um…I guess I’ll see you guys around then.”

“Wait!” Elsa exclaimed. “Give me your phone for a second.”

Anna obliged, and Elsa swiftly punched two sets of numbers into the contacts list.

“So that if you ever need either one of us, you can just give us a call.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

Elsa waved a hand nonchalantly.

“Will Bjorgman mind?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

“You don’t mind that I have your number?” Anna asked Kristoff.

“I’ll live,” he responded neutrally. “Bye.”

“Bye guys.”

Elsa twitched her fingers in a little goodbye wave. Kristoff just raised his hand in a gesture that seemed almost like a salute. 

Anna steeled herself and climbed out of the warm car back into the spitty downpour of rain. She stayed on the sidewalk as it drove away, watching it disappear back into the gray November fog. 

She sighed and headed into the building.

The doorman looked up from his desk as she came in. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Anna,” he greeted her in his usual fancy way.

“Hi, Lumiere." 

"It is good to see that you’re back. However,” he continued, “I noticed that you were running late, so I took the liberty of asking Miss Belle to walk your dog. You’ll find him back in your apartment, all worn out.” He chuckled. “Miss Belle may be a bookish lady, but she has just as much energy as you.”

Anna blinked twice, a little surprised.

“Oh well…thank you. And tell Belle thanks from me too.”

Lumiere tipped his hat in a quaint old-fashioned gesture, and Anna took that as a goodbye. 

She headed up the two flights of stairs in a tired daze and let herself into the apartment. Hans wasn’t back from work yet, so it was still dark and quiet inside. True to Lumiere’s word, Sitron was sprawled out on the couch, snoring happily. 

Anna smiled to herself and turned on the lights. Loudly humming a Beyonce tune to break the quiet, she was about to get out the groceries to begin dinner…

And then she remembered.

“Idiot!” she yelled, slapping herself in the forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!  _Now_  how am I going to make dinner?”

Hans would be so mad. After his long, stressful time at work, he always needed something to make him feel better about his day. That something had always tended to take the form of food or sex; and Anna, knowing the pressures that her fiancé was under, understood that she had to oblige.

“And now,” she fretted, “he’s going to have to have…wait, what do we even have left?”

Anna rushed over to the fridge and looked inside. A half-eaten turkey sandwich. Coffee creamer. Three oranges. Eggs that were a week past their sell-by date. A lump of something that looked like lettuce at this point, but probably used to be mozzarella. 

She kicked the fridge door shut, sick with worry. Aimlessly, she paced back and forth across the kitchen a few times before finally returning to the living room. 

As she walked in, Sitron sleepily lifted his head. Seeing his human female, all the dog’s fatigue immediately melted away. Wagging his tail happily, Sitron dashed over to her before proceeding to lick every available inch of her skin. 

“Hey, buddy,” Anna murmured, scratching him behind the ears. “Didja miss me? Huh?”

He only wagged even more furiously. 

“Wanna come over with me? I need to lie down too.”

Anna slumped down on the couch and Sitron jumped up next to her. Anna sighed and buried her face against his back, inhaling the strong-yet-familiar smell of dog fur. 

She lay like that for a while, listening to the monotonous sound of rain pattering against the window panes. She had to admit, though, even with the constant lingering chill in the apartment, it was surprisingly peaceful this time at night. No yelling, no chatter – not even from her – and no demands from anybody. It was enough to make her understand why Elsa had always liked getting alone time, even though Anna had always been constantly ready and willing to socialize. It was actually nice to be alone right now.

Anna smiled a little and snuggled closer to Sitron. She supposed that she might as well just relax and enjoy herself before–

A key turned in the lock.

–before exactly that happened.

Sitron leaped off the couch and raced over to the door, barking ecstatically. Anna quickly got to her feet and brushed clumps of dog fur off her clothes, swallowing past the reemerged lump in her throat.

Hans emerged from the doorway, with his jacket soaked from the rain and muttering curses. Sitron barked with joy and jumped up, trying to lick his master’s face.

Hans rolled his eyes and growled under his breath before roughly pushing the dog away. He hung up his coat and hat before kicking away his shoes, all without so much as looking at Anna.

When that was all done however, he turned to his fiancée with his trademark lovely smile and embraced her. Anna choked down her fears and clutched him back tightly. The smells of his expensive cologne mingled with the clean crispness of his shirt overwhelmed her nose. 

When they broke apart, Hans, still smiling, tapped Anna on the nose and asked her,

“Well, what’s for dinner tonight, darling? Something warm and comforting I assume, to stave off the nasty rain and the coming winter?”

Anna stared down and played with her hair. She gnawed on her lip hard enough to taste blood.

“I…um…” She swallowed hard.

Hans’ smile fell from his face.

“Anna,” he started in a low voice. “Don’t tell me that you forgot the groceries.”

 Anna looked up at him. His face might’ve been carved out of rock, and his hands were beginning to wrap around her wrists, twisting and squeezing them painfully.

“Anna, I cannot  _believe_  you right now. You had  _one job._  All that you had to do was go grocery shopping. That’s  _all_  that you had to do. And you  _forgot._  How could you  _possibly_  be stupid enough to forget? Go ahead, rack your brains if you can; that shouldn’t take very long–”

“But it wasn’t my fault!” Anna blurted.

“Oh really?” Hans’ fingers tightened even more. “And I suppose that it was someone  _else_  who forgot to buy our groceries?”

“I–I was in the store and I had already started getting stuff, but I was talking to this rude guy and he told me that he worked for Elsa, so he took me to go see her, and then she wanted to catch up, and–”

“You went to go see your  _sister?_ ” Hans interrupted. He released her wrists and stepped back, shaking his head. His expression had morphed into one of pity.

“What? What is it?”

“Oh, poor dear stupid Anna. Your  _sister?_  Do you not remember what she did to you?”

Anna thought back to how Elsa had acted five years ago, the simultaneous shutting out and the meddling coupled with the overreacting. Then she thought about how Elsa had been acting all of that day, how out of touch she still was with Anna’s wants and needs. How both present day Elsa and past Elsa had been completely closed off the whole time.

Trying to fight her doubts, Anna replied,

“Well, um, yeah. Of course I know. But she said that she was sorry; and she was really nice to me today.”

_Maybe she_  has  _changed,_  she thought to herself.  _I hope that I’m wrong._

“Of course she was  _nice_  to you,” Hans scoffed. “Anna, try to recall. She turned her back on you at the very time when you needed her most. She stole from you just to try and force you into something that you’d never wanted. She was needlessly cruel to you and kicked you out of your own home. And who, may I ask, was there for you when you were all alone?”

Anna met his intense gaze.

“You,” she admitted.

“Exactly.” Hans nodded. “Anna, when she abandoned you to be alone and penniless, anyone else would’ve ignored your plight and left you to sleep on borrowed couches. Instead, I took you in, gave you everything you needed,  _loved_  you. And you still put your trust in  _her_  over  _me?_ ”

Anna choked back a sob.

“No,” she mumbled shakily.

“Speak up. Say it with conviction.”

“No,” she declared loudly. “I don’t trust her.”

“Tell me that you will never try and be her friend again.”

She hesitated.

He smacked her in the face. Her cheek stung.

“ _Say_  it.”

“I will never try and be my sister’s friend again,” Anna repeated woodenly. 

Hans finally nodded in satisfaction, his smile reappearing.

“Good girl,” he murmured. “I knew that you had some intelligence after all.”

Anna swallowed, dipping her head a few times. Tears swam in her eyes.

Hans noticed, and made a noise of sympathy. He took her chin in one hand and looked her in the eye.

“Oh, darling. Don’t cry. It’s for the best, after all. She’s only going to hurt you again.”

_Maybe he’s right,_  she thought.  _And anyway, now there’s no way I’ll be ever to contact her again anyway._

“I’ll be okay,” she replied hoarsely. She gulped back her tears. “I’ve got you, right?”

“Yes, exactly. Now darling,” he said briskly, “what do you intend to do about our missing dinner?”

Anna’s shoulders slumped in relief. Dinner. That was no problem. She could handle that. 

“I could order pizza. Or maybe burgers. Or how about Chinese food? No wait, Chinese food’s for breakups. Or sleepovers with friends. Not that I think that breakups are like sleepovers; they’re the exact opposite in fact; I just think that–”

Hans held up a hand. Her voice died in her throat.

“Darling. You’re rambling again.”

“Sorry.”

“Pizza will do,” he decided. “Be sure to order a small four-cheese.”

“Right.” Anna knew that she couldn’t bother telling him that she was way too hungry for a small, or that the blue cheese that Tony’s put on its pizza made her feel sick. 

While she dialed the number and ordered, Hans untied his tie and lounged back on the couch. His free hand stroked Sitron’s ears.

When Anna finished, she turned around and realized that he’d been watching her the whole time. She stared back, unsure of what to do. What did he want this time?

Then he raised one hand and, with just a small flick of his fingers, beckoned her forward.

Anna didn’t move, even though she knew what was coming.

“Come here,” he said forcefully. “Now.”

She steeled herself again and made her way over to the couch. Hans took her by the wrists and pulled her down on top of him.

Anna tensed in anticipation, but he was apparently in no hurry this time. Instead, he let her just lie down with him, her face pressed into the nape of his neck. She could feel the familiarly slow beat of his pulse press against her lips.

“Do you remember,” Hans murmured softly, “our first time together?”

Slowly, Anna nodded. How could she forget? It had been the night he’d proposed to her. After sliding the ring on her finger, he’d suddenly picked her up and carried her off to his bedroom – it had still been just his at the time – and told her to take off her clothes. She’d only been a little bit surprised at the time.

Hans lifted his hand off the dog and stroked her hair instead.

“You were so young, yet already so…experienced.”

She winced.

“So assertive too,” he mused. “Always trying to take the upper hand.”

Anna couldn’t see his face, but she could still hear the disapproval in his tone.

“But,” he finished with a good deal of satisfaction, “I must say, you’ve gotten so much better since then.”

Hans bent his head down and kissed her forehead. 

“My darling bride-to-be,” he whispered. “My love.”

Anna recognized her cue. Propping herself up on her elbows, she gazed her fiancé in the eyes with what she hoped was enough evidence of desire. She must’ve done well, because he kissed her on the lips this time. It grew more demanding the longer she kept it up, with his breath kept pressing against her lips in a long hiss. Sitron lifted his paws over his eyes and whimpered.

“Shut up, dog.” To Anna, he said, “Bed. Now.”

This was what she’d been expecting. Anna leaped to her feet and obediently raced off to their bedroom. With practiced ease, she stripped away her clothing, leaving her naked as soon as Hans walked in the door. His eyes scanned her body, looking her over like a prize horse.

She swallowed, and clenched her fists, trying to steady her shaking hands.

_You can do this. You’ve done it a million times._

“I see you’re as eager as always, my love.”

He pushed her back roughly onto their bed, eliciting an involuntary yelp from her. 

“Shhh.”

As she lay on her back, shivering, he loomed over her, a lazy grin on his face. One hand stroked himself through his pants. The other pinned her arms down hard over her head.

Anna took a deep breath and closed her eyes to the sound of rustling fabric. A few seconds later, Hans’ disembodied voice stated,

“You know something…I think that I actually prefer it when you keep your eyes open.”

Anna obliged. She was so good at this game now; so good that she was able to keep her eyes open the whole time. It could be hard sometimes, but playing it this way was easier in the end.

 

 

He finished with her just as the pizza arrived, and she was relieved to take a break. Even if, on her part, dinner was mostly a quiet affair. Mostly, she just listened to Hans talk about the events of his day.

As always, she stayed quiet for the majority of the time that Hans was talking. Most of it she didn’t even understand anyway.

But when he took his first breath, she said,

“Hans?”

“What is it darling?”

“Are you ever going to let me come visit your work? It’s been more than five years, and I still don’t really understand what your job is like.”

Hans started for a moment again before shaking his head.

“Oh no, darling. It’s not the kind of thing that you should concern yourself with.”

“Why not?”

Hans chuckled.

“Because my work is stressful, and full of upsetting problems. I don’t want to impose any of those things on you.”

“It’s restauranting,” Anna pressed. “How bad could it possibly be? Besides, shouldn’t I know at least a little bit more about what my future husband does for a living?”

Hans, who’d been about to take a sip of water, set down the glass with a hard  _clunk_  that made her wince.

“Anna. Don’t argue with me. You know what you need to know; so now stop asking questions.”

Anna bit back a protest. She knew better than to argue. 

“Fine,” she mumbled, pushing away her plate with the nibbled crusts.

“Now go back to our room. Afterwards, you can do the dishes.”

“Go back to our room?” She swallowed hard. “Okay. Alright.”

“I don’t know why you always look so upset, Anna. It’s what you want, after all.” Hans sighed deeply. “Since we’re to be married, when I need your love, you know that you ought to give me what I need. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

“I know you do. Now go on. I’ll be there soon, my love.”

 

 

Late that night, Anna kept lying awake in their bed after Hans had fallen asleep. Her eyes were heavy and sticky from her own lack of sleep. Her hands were trembling. Her neck, sides, and inner thighs were peppered with blotchy purple bruises and her groin was painfully sore. 

But that wasn’t painful enough to keep her up at night anymore. Instead, she lay on her side staring at the cell phone resting on her nightstand. The phone was off and its display screen was dark, but the orange glow from the city’s light pollution outside illuminated it; even more so in Anna’s mind.

_Should I call her?_  she wondered.  _Would she even mind? Does she even care about me? What if she’s asleep now? Well, probably not, it’s only about midnight and she is kind of a workaholic, so that’s probably not an issue. But what if Hans is right? What if she doesn’t care? I mean, he’s right about pretty much everything, so…she probably doesn’t love me._

Hans sighed and rolled over in his sleep. 

_And even if she does, I can’t call her anyway._

Anna moaned and covered her face with her hands. Elsa may love her or may not, but damn it if she didn’t want to see her sister again.

_I can’t call_  her.  _But…_

Taking a shaky breath, Anna got up from the bed and picked up her phone. She walked into the living room as quietly as possible, so as not to wake up Hans, and scrolled frantically through the list of numbers until she found the one she was looking for. 

He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey. Is that you, Winters?" 

"What, you don’t have caller ID?” she asked innocently.

“Ha ha ha. Wait, hang on a second.” There was a brief pause, and she heard him yell into the background, “No, Sven, it’s not Elsa. No, it’s not–what? I DON’T  _HAVE_  A SECRET GIRLFRIEND, YOU NOSY VOYEUR! FOR GOD’S SAKE, STOP ASKING ALREADY!” He directed his attention back to Anna. “That was my brother. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. But, uh, how come I didn’t–”

“Hear anything?”

“Um, yeah.”

Kristoff sighed, like he had to explain this to people a lot.

“Sven’s mute. So he uses sign language.”

Anna started.

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Eh, whatever. Personally, I just think that he’s happy that he has a way to annoy me that other people can’t understand.”

Anna forced a light tone.

“Sibling thing?”

“Maybe.” Kristoff sounded guarded. “By the way, why did you call me?”

Anna took a deep breath.

“Okay. Look, I wanted to say that, maybe we kinda got off on the wrong foot before–”

“Kinda?” he interrupted. “You threatened to strangle me with my hat.”

“Well, you called me a nutcase and insinuated that I was stupid in front of me, so I’d say we’re pretty even,” Anna retorted.

“Point taken,” Kristoff admitted.

“So anyway, I wanted to ask you if…we could possibly be friends.”

The other end of the line was dead silent. Anna briefly wondered if Kristoff had dropped his phone.

“You…want to be friends?” he finally said. He sounded dumbfounded. “But I called you names.”

Anna looked back over to the bedroom to make sure that Hans was still asleep. She lowered her voice.

“Look,” she said. “Hans doesn’t trust Elsa after what happened five years ago.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I’m getting there. He doesn’t want me to see her.” Anna gulped. “But I still want to. I don’t know if she really feels sorry for what she did, but if I’m going to make a decision about her, I want to spend more time with her first. Ya know, like the two of you said. So I was thinking…if I hang out with you, I can have an excuse to see Elsa without making him upset. Besides, she still wants you to get to know me better, right? So if the two of us start to spend time together, I get to be with my sister again and see if she’s really sorry, you get to make your friend happy, and Hans doesn’t get angry. Everybody wins.”

“So you’re basically just making a deal with me?” He sounded relieved.

“Yes.”

She couldn’t see Kristoff’s face, but she could imagine him grinning.

“In that case, I’m in.”

“Yes!” Anna yell-whispered, pumping her fist.

“But just one thing.”

“Name it,” she replied impulsively.

“Really? 'Name it?’ What if you don’t like my condition?”

“Don’t poke holes in my conviction, Bjorgman, just tell me what you want.”

She pictured him shrugging.

“Well, okay then.” He took a deep breath. “If this idea doesn’t work out, you’ve gotta admit it. And then we can break off the quote-unquote friendship without anybody pitching a fit. Deal?”

Anna mulled it over. It seemed like a fair enough condition.

“Okay,  _Kristoff._  You’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Fine,  _Anna._  Now shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Anna snorted.

“Elsa’s right; you are paternalistic.”

“No actually, in fact I need to go to bed too. Sven’s starting to throw his homework in the air, and that’s never a good sign.”

Anna winced in sympathy.

“Alright. Goodnight Kristoff.”

“Goodnight Anna.”

She hit the END CALL button, and watched his face fade away into the image of her homescreen. 

_I think that I may’ve just made the weirdest friend that I’ve ever had,_  she mused.

Tiptoeing back to her room, she rested her phone on the nightstand. But before slipping into the covers, she looked over at Hans and was struck by a sudden bout of unease.

_What if he gets mad about Kristoff?_  she worried.  _I mean, it’s basically just a business deal, but Kristoff’s still a strange man. And Hans always gets jealous easily._

She shivered.

_I’m going to have to lie to him._

Anna never lied to Hans. Just thinking about it made her feel sick with apprehension. But if she wanted to see her sister again in any way, she was going to have to.

She touched her fiancé’s forehead. It was unusually cool, like always.

_I’m so sorry._

Feeling simultaneously worried and contented, Anna slipped down into the bed. Wrapping the covers as tightly around herself as possible to ward off the apartment’s constant chill, she closed her eyes and finally slipped into a deeply uneasy sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

 

 

The next day, Anna rolled out of bed before the alarm even sounded. She swept through her morning routine and shot out the door with her hair still wet before an astonished Hans could even say goodbye to her. 

Well, she needed to stop being repeatedly late anyway (which  _seriously_  irritated Tiana). Both she and her boss knew that Anna had a bad tendency to accidentally oversleep, but it still didn’t make Tiana very happy when the restaurant was flooded with early-morning breakfast customers and one of her small number of waitresses was missing. Anna knew that she probably should’ve been fired long ago, except that she was fast on her feet, good with people, and had a exceptional memory for orders and prices. Excellent qualities for a waitress. So Tiana was usually willing to overlook her lateness for her more redeeming qualities; but still got frustrated by it. So whenever Anna  _did_  have the opportunity to turn up early, she decided to always take it. 

It was a good excuse to have, even though she knew perfectly well that she was just avoiding talking to Hans. She couldn’t lie to him at all. But he was  _definitely_  going to misunderstand her newly forged relationship with Kristoff, even if she didn’t mention the Elsa part of it. Just last month, she’d gone to one of his work parties with him and had spent just a little too much time laughing at one of his coworkers’ jokes. The black eye hadn’t faded for nearly a week, and she’d had to tell everyone that she’d walked into a cabinet corner.

Kristoff? No way. He barely even tolerated her being regularly around  _Naveen,_  who was married to her boss, for God’s sake! 

So although it was still hard for her to keep secrets from him, she had no choice.

“I hope that Elsa someday appreciates this,” she grumped as she pulled into a parking space in front of the restaurant.

Walking inside, the noise hit her like a much-anticipated slap to the face. All around her, children shouted and parents scolded them; couples alternately bickered like old men and popped bits of beignet into each others’ mouths; single adults actually got to eat all their food without being nagged about their waistlines; writers ignored everything (including the coffee they’d ordered) in favor of their laptops; and businesspeople looked solemnly at everything except their pastries. Everyday adventures in restaurant working. Only even more crowded than usual.

“About time you made it, you selfish oversleep-er!” Chel shouted over at her. She was balancing trays of  _pain perdu,_  waffles, and coffee on her arms, with a platter of beignets neatly placed between her hip and the table she was serving. One of the men at that table was ogling her, ignoring his companion’s pouting. “I’m in the weeds over here!" 

"Oh, come on Chel, I’m not even late!” Anna protested.

“Yeah, for once. Linda’s got Oldenburg and his daughter, so you can take the Vikings.”

“Someday Chel, I am going to figure out why you like hinting that they’re all a bunch of barbarians.”

“It’s very simple: because they all  _are._ ”

“Hey, Astrid’s my friend!”

“And you know perfectly well that she’s just as much of a Viking as the rest of them.” Her attention switched back to her customers. “Hey, seein’ something that you like over there?”

Rolling her eyes, Anna dashed over to where the gang of unruly friends were waiting.

“Hi Anna!” Hiccup called, eagerly waving to her. 

“Hi!”

“The others would say hi, but…” He unnecessarily gestured to his friends. Fishlegs and Snotlout appeared to be debating the manliness of a strange pack of trading cards; Ruffnut had Tuffnut in a headlock and was trying to shove her brother’s face into a pile of sugar packets; and Astrid was yelling at all of them to stop being so loud. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not offended.” She lowered her voice. “You popped the question to Astrid yet?”

Hiccup sighed, and then whispered back,

“No, not yet. I haven’t…found the right moment yet.”

“Bullshit. You’re scared.”

“Well, have  _you_  ever had to ask something like this to someone you love? It  _is_  scary.”

“That’s probably true,” Anna admitted. “But you know that that question’s not going to ask itself, Hiccup. If you keep putting it off, she’s going to assume you’re not interested.”

Hiccup looked stricken.

“Would she?”

“Duh, that’s how literally everybody on the planet thinks. Take it from someone who kn–”

Anna faltered as Tiana waved at her impatiently from the kitchen window and Nani, Linda, Chel, and Meg kept giving her dirty looks.

“Sorry; I’m being unprofessional. Usuals for all of you?”

“You know what; maybe not,” Hiccup replied thoughtfully. “Can you handle that? Six new orders and everything?”

“There is nothing that the heir of the Iron Throne cannot handle,” Anna replied dramatically. “Round up your crazy dragons and fire away, Khaleesi Hiccup.”

“I say that Daenerys is my favorite character  _one time_ …”

 

 

Anna moved through breakfast time and lunchtime with more difficulty than she’d claimed earlier. The restaurant had filled up with mostly new customers, and at around two-thirty when it finally began to empty out and she could finally catch a break, her head was confusedly spinning with new names and new orders and preferences. She had even managed to somehow mix up Bruce’s fish-sandwich-with-no-fish with Tito’s extra-spicy New York-style meat pizza (although both of them had liked it…). 

With a relieved sigh, she took out a clean mug and reached for the coffee pot.

“Miss Anna!” Naveen called from the kitchen. She froze in place. “There is a young man on the telephone who would like to speak with you!”

Nani, who’d been heading for the coffee too, gave Anna a questioning look.

“A man? You don’t really hang out with men.”

“Yeah, I dunno,” Anna shrugged, setting down her mug to fill later. “Maybe it’s one of Hans’ coworkers or one of his doctor’s interns. Could be one of my exes who doesn’t know that I’m engaged.”

“Has that happened before?" 

"More often than you’d think.”

Nani was clearly trying not to laugh.

“Miss Anna! He is being annoyingly gruff and rude. Should I hang up?”

Anna frowned for a moment, and then groaned.

“Oh,  _now_  I know who that is. No, hang on, I’m coming!”

She darted up to the kitchen window and accepted the phone receiver that Naveen handed to her. 

“Hi Kristoff.”

“You guessed it was me?”

“Frankly, it was kind of obvious. No one else would try to get ahold of me by being grumpy to my boss’s husband." 

"That’s who I was talking to, huh? He seemed kind of full of himself.”

Anna laughed. 

“He can be sometimes. Maybe it’s a good thing you can call up and irritate some humbleness into him.”

“Humbleness isn’t a word.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Do you want to know why I’m calling you, Anna?”

“Does that mean I won our argument? I never win arguments.”

“I find  _that_  hard to believe. Okay, look, you know how you said you wanted to be friends with me in order to get back in good with your sister?”

“I believe that I worded it more nicely.”

“Well, anyway, this Saturday afternoon Sven and I are going to be going shopping for birthday presents for her. If you wanna come with us, you can. Might help you understand better what she likes and it’ll really make her happy.”

Anna didn’t even stop to ponder it.

“Sure, I’d love to! Where should we meet? What time do you and your brother want me to be there? How much money should I bring?”

“That’s it?” Kristoff sounded dumbfounded. “Do you not have any plans or anything, or are you just saying that off the top of your head?”

“Hey, you didn’t answer any of my questions!" 

"Are you sure that you’re gonna be free?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

“Alright then.” Kristoff still sounded dubious. “Sven thinks we should meet at Union Station around maybe two-thirty. You certain that you can make it?”

“Stop asking that; of course I can make it.”

“Okay. See you then.”

“See you then!”

As Anna handed back the phone, she suddenly became aware of the fact that everybody else in the restaurant (not that there were a lot anymore) was staring at her.

Feeling a little embarrassed, she got her coffee before heading over to sit down with the other waitresses.

“It’s not a date,” she proclaimed before any of them could open their mouths. 

“Did we say it was?” Linda asked, looking mildly affronted. “You just don’t spend time with men very much, and we were surpr–”

“Stop lying, Snakey,” Meg interrupted. “Honestly Anna, it sounded too much like a date for us to  _not_  be suspicious. Who is this mysterious guy, anyway?”

“New friend,” she replied offhandedly as she spooned sugar into her coffee. “He wants me to go shopping with him next Saturday. That’s all.”

“This is interesting,” Nani said thoughtfully. “You haven’t made any new friends in five years. What prompted this? What happened? Did something good happen?”

“Nani, please don’t pull your ‘big sister’ act on me right now.”

Nani rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about stubborn delusional girls.

“You think it’ll go well?” Linda asked.

Anna shrugged.

“I don’t know. He’s actually kind of a grump, and he’s bringing along his brother, whom I’ve never met. But I have high hopes. I like shopping, and I just have a good feeling about this.”

Most of the other women nodded politely.

Meg, on the other hand, raised her eyebrows and asked,

“Oh really? Will you have the same kind of good feeling when you tell Prince Charming about your date? Or will he think it’s an  _actual_  date?”

“’S  _not_  a date. And anyway, if he doesn’t like the idea of me being out with a different man, I’ll just tell him I’m going out with one of you guys.”

The feeling of acceptance instantly vanished.

“I’m no love expert,” Chel frowned. “Lust expert, maybe. But doesn’t keeping secrets from the person you love, like, suck?”

“Not just that,” Nani added. “If it’s not a date, you shouldn’t feel obligated to keep secrets. He should be able to understand.”

Anna was starting to feel uncomfortable. She usually kept the details of her and Hans’ relationship private, mostly because he didn’t want the tabloids sniffing around his personal life any more. She was starting to think that that was a better idea than she’d believed before.

“Look guys, it’s no big deal. And you shouldn’t worry about it. It’s my problem; I’ll work something out.”

They all continued to look skeptical. 

“I still don’t like this…” Meg started.

“No. Big. Deal,” Anna enunciated. “Hey. I’m good.”

Internally, though, she was scared. If they didn’t like just a minor thing about her and Hans’ relationship, how would her friends take it if they somehow managed to find out more about it? They might get the wrong idea about the relationship.

“If you insist,” Linda sighed, looking unhappy.

“I do. And I also think that a customer just came in.”

She’d said the magic words. All the waitresses scrambled to their feet, running to the kitchen to dump their coffee mugs in the sink before taking their places. In a restaurant, none of the staff could ever really rest.

 

 

As she waited for Saturday, the next few days passed in a blur for Anna. Her work at the restaurant would tire her out, she would try to get some socializing in with her friends there, and then she would come home and she and Hans would be together. It was all part of normal life for Anna.

Which made her only the more nervous and excited about going out (but not really  _going out_ ) with Kristoff. 

On Saturday, she had a half day at work, so after saying goodbye to her friends and coworkers, she hopped in the car and made a phone call.

Her fiancé’s fluid voice instantly filled her ears.

“Hello, darling. What is it?”

She took a deep breath and tried not to let her voice shake. Thank God he wasn’t there to see her in person.

“Hi, Hans. Um…can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” he replied lazily.

“The other waitresses want to go to Union Station to go shopping. They invited me to go with them. Is it okay if I do?”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“Please? I’ll be back in time to cook dinner. I’ll not buy too much, and take it out of my own bank account.” Anna was beginning to panic, and her voice was growing close to a grovel. “I won’t mess anything up, I swear. Just let me go out and spend time with my friends–”

“Oh Anna.” Hans groaned in disgust. “I do hate it when you sound so pathetic in public. It’s unbecoming of a woman in your position.”

She blinked back tears.

“Is that…a no?”

He didn’t answer for a few more moments.

“Hmmm…you may go shopping as long as you get home by five, take this trip out of your clothing budget, and make sure to  _behave_  yourself. You’ve been good recently, so I suppose I can miss a few hours of your loathsome jabbering.”

It was all Anna could do to not squeal for joy. That was unbecoming, too.

“Oh, thank you, Hans.”

“Don’t you forget it though. And if you  _do_  misbehave, I’ll know.”

“I won’t,” Anna promised.

“Very well. Goodbye darling.”

“Goodbye.”

Grinning obscenely, Anna tossed her phone into the shotgun seat and cranked up the radio.

_“…braced myself for the goodbye…cause that’s all I’ve ever known…then you took me by surprise…you said 'I’ll never leave you alone…’”_

As she turned her car and drove off to the shopping center, she even found herself singing along.

 

 

Union Station was nothing if not grand. Both in the places where it was an actual train station and a shopping center, majestic ceiling arches, polished marble floors, and a clever use of empty space dominated the building. You could almost forget that you were in what was actually a big mall.

As soon as Anna pulled into the parking lot and emerged from her Volkswagen, she spotted the two men waiting beside a beat-up looking pickup truck, which was certainly  _not_  grand by any stretch of the imagination. Kristoff’s mop of blond hair was recognizable from a mile away, and the unfamiliar man standing beside him was obviously Sven.

She scooped up her purse and locked her car before heading over to them.

“Hello boys. On time, as promised.”

“Did I say you wouldn’t be?” Kristoff asked with raised eyebrows.

Sven cleared his throat and made a gesture with his hands.

“What did he say?”

“He just told me to mind my manners. Sven, I told you not to do that; you sound like Mom.”

Sven rolled his eyes and grinned at Anna. He was about shoulder-height to his brother and compactly built, with light brown skin, shaggy black hair, and brown eyes that sparkled a lot, as if he were perpetually laughing at a joke. He made another few gestures.

“He says you’re pretty,” Kristoff told her. “And also that…what?”

_Kinda wish that Elsa had reunited with you before,_  Sven said while his brother translated.  _I mean, I was beginning to think that Kristoff was asexual. He never goes out with_  anyone.

Kristoff stopped translating to glare at Sven.

Anna felt her cheeks heat up.

“Um…Sven, I think you’ve got the wrong idea. We’re not dating. This isn’t a date. We just happen to be shopping at the same time together, you know, platonically.”

Sven looked disappointed.

_Oh. Well. That’s too bad. Think you’ll ever change your mind?_

“Knock it off,” Kristoff scolded him. “She’s engaged to someone else, okay?”

She nodded to emphasize his point and held up her left hand. The huge diamond caught the light and sparkled brightly enough to blind anyone within a twenty-foot radius.

Sven blinked a few times and held his hand up over his eyes.

_Okay, fine. You guys win. Now, are we going to go birthday shopping or what?_

“Well, no offense, Sven,” Anna said as they walked inside the shopping center together. “But  _you_  were the reason we were being held up.”

Kristoff laughed, which startled her. She’d been half-expecting that he’d bark or something, if he ever got amused at all. But his laugh was actually really nice.

“You go, Anna. You’re already learning how to deal with annoying siblings again.”

_Screw you, Kristoff._

Laughing, Anna immediately steered the men off toward the shops. There were presents for sisters to be bought.

 

 

An hour later, absolutely no progress whatsoever had been made and Sven had given up and was listening to his iPod to avoid the noise.

“I don’t care if you’re her employee and 'close friend,’ I’m her  _sister!_  Don’t you think I would  _know_  what she would like?”

“You haven’t seen her in five years! Don’t you even want to  _consider_  that she might have changed interests now? I see her nearly every day, and you still don’t want to think that I  _might know more about her_  right now!”

“That’s because you  _don’t!_ ”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“How do you think that you know more about my own sister than I do?”

“Because I  _do!_  I know more about who Elsa is right now!”

“Oh really? Does she still like Taylor Swift?”

“Everybody likes Taylor Swift. Even people who don’t like Taylor Swift like Taylor Swift.”

“Well okay then. Does she still drink mocha? Still good at geometry? Still read Neil Gaiman and Cornelia Funke? Still know ridiculous amounts about Norse mythology?”

“Well…look, that’s not the point! Elsa may be your blood, Anna, but she’s a vastly different person than she was five years ago. She may not be the sister you remember!”

“ _That’s not true!_ ”

_Okay, that’s it,_  Sven announced just after yanking out his earbuds.  _People are staring at both of you, and I refuse to be a part of this craziness right now. I will now leave behind your drama and go somewhere where I can’t be judged and can drown my pain in pure goodness._

And he walked away.

Surprised and embarrassed, Anna turned to Kristoff.

“What was  _that_  monologue about?”

“He’s going to Starbucks,” he replied shortly. “We should hope that Elsa won’t mind getting a gift card for her birthday from him.”

“Oh.”

There were a few moments of silence between them.

“Hey, um, Kristoff?”

“Yeah?”

She shuffled her feet.

“Sorry for yelling at you like that.”

“I’m sorry too,” he told her. “But I still think Elsa’ll prefer the purple dress with no back to the gray one that goes up to her neck.”

“Oh, how do you know?” Anna scoffed. “When I got kicked out, she wore  _the_  most prudish outfits you’ve ever seen. She always looked like a sleep-deprived nun.”

“I told you she’s changed, though. Did you see the sweater she wore that day we went for coffee though?”

“Well, good point. You could see like, all of her boobs in that thing.”

“Okay, why would you notice that? Do you have a reason for looking at her chest?”

“Ew, don’t be disgusting,” Anna groaned, making a face. “I wasn’t trying to. I’m not into girls and  _really_  not into incest.”

“I can understand that. To hear some of my family talk, you’d think I wasn’t into girls either,” he told her. 

Anna laughed.

“I can guess that.”

“Oh, he’s  _laid back_  about my love life compared to my  _mom._ ”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. Uh, speaking of Sven…I noticed that he doesn’t look like you.”

The grin faded from Kristoff’s face.

“It’s okay!” Anna said hurriedly. “I mean, if you don’t want to tell me it’s fine, it’s none of my business, why am I asking you, I’m such a dumbass, God I’m sorry I stick my foot in my mouth all the time–”

“Hey,” Kristoff interrupted. “Don’t apologize. Um, the thing is…Sven’s not my blood brother. We were adopted from this foster care system in Norway when we were little kids. Annoying bits and all though, he’s still my brother.” He said the last part like a challenge.

“No, I understand,” Anna told him softly. “Can you…still speak Norwegian?”

He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“ _That’s_  what you want to know?”

“Would you rather I doubted that he was your real family?”

“Good point. And yes, I do. My family’s Norwegian too, so I stay practiced.” He took a breath. “ _Er vi venner nå? Jeg ønske ikke å slåss._ " 

Anna felt a smile grow across her face.

"And what does that mean, Mr. Trilingual?”

Kristoff looked at her for a second before replying.

“'Are we friends now? I don’t want to fight.’ Although honestly, I have no guarantees about the fighting thing. You might be the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“If that’s true, then you’ve never looked in a mirror,” she countered.

“Touché. So what dress are you getting your sister?”

Anna looked back and forth between the two dresses a few times.

“Neither,” she decided. “I’ll get her  _this_  one." 

She grabbed a different dress off the racks and held it out with a flourish. It was a light blue off-the-shoulder party number with a slit up one leg and a sparkling bodice. For some reason, it just reminded Anna of Elsa, which was silly. Elsa hadn’t been sparkly in years.

Kristoff raised his eyebrows.

"Shiny.”

“Yeah. Do you think she’ll like it?”

“Frankly, I’m not the best judge of women’s clothing, but yeah. I think she will.”

“You mean it?”

“What, you expect me to lie?”

Honestly? She didn’t.

“Of course I don’t.”

He settled back with a smirk.

“Good. Because I won’t.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied airily. “That’s what they all say. Now I gotta pay for this glittery thing, and you gotta go find your own present.”

Kristoff nodded.

“I’ll be in the bookstore across the way. You sure you can afford that monstrosity?”

“Of course I can, oh Doubting Thomas. You just do your thing, and I’ll do mine." 

"Sounds good to me. See you in a minute.”

Anna watched his retreating form up until he ducked into the bookstore, before heading up to the cash register.

It wasn’t until she was finished paying for the astonishingly expensive dress that she realized that Sven had come back. He held a vanilla latte in his hand and was watching her thoughtfully.

“Hey, Sven. I see you made it back to the scene of the drama,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged, like  _What choice did I have?_

“Do you want me to get some paper for you to write on?”

He nodded.

She dug a random notepad out of her voluminous purse and handed it to him along with a pen. Sven held the paper up against the wall before ripping it out and handing it to her.

_Where’s Kristoff?_

“Over in that bookstore. Don’t worry, we stopped fighting.”

_Good. How did that happen?_

“He and I talked about his childhood and he spoke some Norwegian to me. Believe me, I’m confused too.”

_Are you kidding me!?!? He NEVER opens up to anyone, and doesn’t like speaking Norwegian to anyone outside our family. What is this magic of yours, woman!?!?_

Anna blushed hard, but said offhandedly, “Must be my obvious charm and beauty. How do you deal with your brother when he’s being annoying?” she asked.

_I just tell him to shut up. Though it would be nice to have it easy like you,_ _who can flirt your way to Kristoff’s compliance._

“Oh gross,” Anna groaned. “First him, now you. What is it with you two and incest jokes?”

“Who’s making incest jokes?” Kristoff asked, coming up to them with a new copy of  _My Sister’s Keeper_ in his hand.

“Both of you stinking Bjorgmans.”

_We stinking Bjorgmans have had numerous people tell us that we are totally fucking hilarious,_  Sven told her haughtily, clearly pleased that his brother was back to translate again.

“Not her, though,” Kristoff added. “She wouldn’t admit we were funny if her life depended on it, right freckles?”

“Don’t call me that. And no, I wouldn’t.”

He leaned in close, smirking.

“You sure about that?”

Anna didn’t even blink.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure. What, you think you can make me laugh?”

“I can try.”

Sven glanced back and forth between them, stifling a laugh. He deliberately waited about a minute’s worth of them staring haughtily at each other before clearing his throat.

_Hey, Winters, I thought you said you had somewhere to be._

Anna broke her gaze.

“Oh yes! Right! Hans said he wanted me back by five.”

“Well, that’s not very long,” Kristoff commented. “Does he not trust you or something?”

Anna froze for a moment before responding.

“Oh, he…just wants me back in time to make dinner. That’s all.”

“Okay, then.” He reached out his hand towards her. She flinched, her eyes screwed shut.

“If you give me the dress, I can get it to Elsa sooner.”

Her eyes flew open.

“Oh! Right!” She handed him the bag, feeling like an idiot. “I’ll um…see when we can meet again.”

“Maybe you could come to my family’s Christmas party on the twenty-third?” he offered. “Elsa’s going to be there.”

Anna beamed.

“That would be great. Thank you.”

_I’ll tell Mom to set a place for one extra person,_  Sven told her.

Anna held out her hand. Kristoff only hesitated a moment before shaking it. She walked back to her car still smiling all the way home.

 

 

Hans looked up from his book as she walked in.

“Hello, darling. How was your shopping trip?”

Anna panicked for a moment before remembering to lie.

“Lousy,” she sighed. “I couldn’t find  _anything_  that I liked. And I think one of clerks was still in high school and he kept hitting on me.”

“He better not have been,” Hans said in a low voice.

“Oh don’t worry, I shot him down,” Anna added hurriedly.

Hans smiled, setting Ovid’s  _Metamorphoses_  down on the coffee table.

“That’s right. You’re my good loyal girl.”

She felt a pang of shame, but didn’t say anything else.

“So, um…what do you want for dinner?”

Hans waved one hand airily.

“Oh, don’t overly concern yourself with anything difficult. Try that seafood chowder with squash recipe I was telling you about.”

Anna obediently started to get out the many ingredients for the chowder. Through the steam and smells as she cooked, she kept humming the song from her car ride, a smile fixed on her lips. 


	6. Chapter 5

Winter soon came, as it did every December. In Washington D.C. however, the winters tended to be considerably less snowy than the ones in New England or Montana. But as any native of the city could tell you, this didn’t stop the season from being constantly freezing cold. 

Anna reflected on this as she tried to get her car to start.

“Dammit!” she yelled furiously, whacking the hood openhanded. “Fucking shit! You started this morning, why won’t you start now!? Why won’t you fucking start, you screwed over fucker!? Damn it to hell!”

She kicked one of the tires, which accomplished absolutely nothing except bruising her toes.

Hopping around in pain, Anna loudly indulged in more profanity and ignored the people starting to stare.

She didn’t even notice her boss coming out of the restaurant until she started getting shouted at. 

“What the hell, Anna?” Tiana barked. “I know that y'all have to go home, but scaring people away with your mouth is  _not_  the way to get someone to help you with your damn car! Nobody wants to hear the word ‘fuck’ used as an adjective, verb, and noun in the same sentence!”

Anna stopped hopping around and looked sheepishly at her boss.

“Sorry, Tiana. But I just need to get home and…” She trailed off.

Tiana sighed and walked over to the younger woman. 

“Anna, honey. What’s wrong?”

Anna shuffled her feet.

“I’ve got a party to go to tonight, and I don’t know if I’m going to make it. I mean, Hans said he was going to be working really late and stuff, but if I don’t get my car going I won’t be able to get home on time to change. I can’t go to a Christmas party in  _this!_ ”

She gestured helplessly to her outfit. She was wearing the green sweater with purple crocuses that she loved but had holes in the cuffs; her sporty-style pink winter jacket; faded jeans; and scuffed brown ankle boots with fuzzy socks. It was comfortable and she like it, but too ridiculously casual. If she went to a party like this, Kristoff’s family would all laugh at her.

Tiana turned her head to one side.

“Why can’t you? Whose party are you going to?”

“Oh, um…the family of a friend of mine. Why does it matter?”

“Because,” the older woman replied, “if it was the party of some politician or a colleague of your fiancé’s, then I would say it would be a good idea to impress your hosts. But if it’s the family of your friend’s…why would you need to?”

“Because I’ve never met them and I don’t know if they’ll like me,” she mumbled.

Tiana took Anna by the shoulder.

“Y'all aren’t going to be able to control whether any of the new people like you or not. But if your friend’s going to be there, you’ll have at least one person who’ll be support for you. So don’t worry. Just try to have fun. If there is a crisis, your friend’ll still be there for you.”

Anna sighed.

“Thanks Tiana. But still. How’m I going to get there if my car won’t start?”

“Easy.” She jingled her own car keys. “What address did this friend of yours give you?”

“No way.” Anna’s mouth dropped open. “But, but…how will Naveen get home?”

“I think he’s a big enough boy to call his own taxi,” Tiana replied with a smirk. “So? Y'all want to take the Campos Express or public transport?”

A grin split across Anna’s face.

“Does the Campos Express allow its passengers full access to the radio?”

“If they promise to show up half an hour earlier to work for a week of their own choosing.”

“Deal!”

 

 

After Anna called a mechanic’s shop to come get her car and they’d been driving for half an hour, Tiana finally pulled into the suburbs of Bethesda. Anna gaped out the window at the houses: big ones, with honest-to-God lawns and picket fences, and little kids and dogs running around freely. Having grown up in downtown D.C. her whole life, she wondered how anyone would want to trade this kind of actual home for a cramped apartment. Granted, though, she  _would_  miss the city.

“This is it?” Tiana asked. “First house on Living Rock Lane, you said?”

Anna gazed up at it. It was even bigger than the other houses, and painted gray with a green roof, as opposed to the white and beige paint jobs around it. Flowers and weeds alike grew wild in the unkempt garden. Some kid’s tricycle was lying in the walkway along with what looked like a crystal necklace. To get into the Christmas spirit, uneven bunches of holly had been hung on the front door.

“Yeah huh. That’s the address.”

Tiana looked at the house dubiously.

“Mind if I walk up there with you?”

“Not at all,” Anna replied gratefully.

They walked up to the front door with unusual silence. Anna’s hand hung in the air for a few moments, before finally ringing the doorbell.

It had barely finished ringing when the door was thrown open with a bang by a squat, middle-aged woman in a loud sweater.

“You must be Anna! Oh my, you’re even prettier than Kristoff said! What a wonderful girl!”

She promptly tackle-hugged Anna with enough force to crack her ribs. When she finally stopped, she backed up and Anna got a good look at her. She was about nose-height with the younger woman; somewhat chubby with flyaway gray-and-brown hair and abundant smile wrinkles; and wearing possibly the ugliest Christmas sweater Anna had ever seen in her life. 

“Oh yes! Just like he described. Lovely bright eyes and all! I’m so happy to welcome such a girl into my family! My name’s Bulda, but if you end up marrying my son, you can call me Mom.”

Anna could do nothing but gape.

Luckily, Tiana came to the rescue.

“I think you may have gotten some false information, Miss Bulda. You see, Anna here already has a fiancé. She specifically said that your…son, is it? was just her friend.”

Bulda sighed, looking disappointed and annoyed at the same time.

“Are you sure? I’m going to have to have a talk with Sven, that little gossiper. Well, come in! And just Bulda is fine, by the way, I haven’t been a 'miss’ since the seventies.”

She turned and headed back inside the house.

Anna looked at Tiana, who looked somewhere between flustered and amused.

“Is your friend anything like his mother?”

“ _No._ ”

“Then good luck, and go on in.”    

With her worries about whether the Bjorgmans (well, at least one of them) would like her or not abated, Anna said goodbye to Tiana and headed inside the warm house out of the frigid cold.

It was chaos. Toys were scattered all over the floor, with children dashing around underfoot and shrieking. Packs of people were pressed together, eating and talking loudly. Holiday decorations were thrown about haphazardly, taking up too much space with their bright colors and trailing streamers.

Anna loved it immediately.

“I want your attention everybody!” Bulda called, clapping her hands. Everybody’s attention immediately switched over to her. “I want you all to meet Anna Winters, Elsa’s sister, and our Kristoff’s…friend.” She said the last word less enthusiastically, but no one beside Anna seemed to notice.

She promptly got charged by a swarm of the noisy Bjorgmans. Adults asked about her job, teenagers and college-age kids wanted to know where she lived, and the kids…

“Ah-na!” squealed one chubby little girl. “You Krissy’s girlfriend or wife?”

“She’s not his wife, dum-dum,” one of the boys told her. “Married people has to sleep in the same bed. Evveybody knows that.”

“Good thing they not married then,” chimed in another boy. “Krissy snores really loud. And gets drool on the pillow.”

“But Ewlsa and Jackie slept in the same bed befoe  _they_  got married,” pointed out a different girl.

“Well, Ewlsa’s weird.”  

“Elsa’s my sister,” Anna told them, not having the heart to correct them about the girlfriend thing. “Did you know that?”

“No!” gasped the kids.

“Do you steal each others’ toys and then put makeup on each other with finger paint before you has snacks?” asked the first little boy.

“Uhh…no?”

“Oh.  _My_  sister and me does that.”

“Slate, are you annoying Anna?” came a different female voice. Anna looked up and was immediately greeted by a welcome pair of blue eyes.

“No, Ewlsa,” Slate replied innocently. “We telling her about what she need to do–”

“When she n’ Krissy get married,” finished one of the girls.

“I was gonna say that.”

“Yeah,” Anna smirked. “Like sleep in the same bed, for instance.”

“Oh, that’s the best part,” Elsa grinned. “It’s uh…like a big sleepover. Every night. Which can be really good or really bad, depending on whether your husband is in the mood to steal your blankets or not.”

“Your husband steals your blankets? What a jerk,” said a different voice. Anna turned to see an unfamiliar man walking up to them with a cup of mulled wine in his hand. He was a couple inches shorter than Elsa – even with his strange spiky white hair – quite slender, and with piercing blue eyes and a mischievous smirk. His T-shirt read  _I Don’t Need Google, My Wife Knows Everything._  “Why you married him, I have no idea.”

“Sometimes I feel the same way.”

Anna raised one eyebrow.

“This is Jackie?”  

“Yeh!” yelled Slate. “He the fun one.”

“Jack actually. Jackson Overland Frost, if we’re being proper, but I don’t like being proper. Nice to meet my sister-in-law for the first time.” He held out his unoccupied hand and Anna shook it.

“Nice to meet you too. I can’t believe your name is literally Jack Frost, for God’s sake.”

“You not supposed to take God’s name in vain!” shrieked one little girl, and Anna felt herself redden. 

Elsa came to the rescue. She quickly bent down until she was eye-level with the kids, and said:

“Hey, maybe you guys should go find Kristoff and tell him that his girlfriend’s here.”

“Okay!”

Jack looked at Anna in astonishment as the kids charged off.

“I’m actually not his girlfriend,” she told him as before he could open his mouth.

“Ah.” He nodded. “I knew Sven was screwing with us.”

“It’s not difficult to believe,” Elsa said, rolling her eyes. “Sven tries to hook Kristoff up with people all the time.”  

Anna was strangely disappointed.

“Oh. I thought that he seriously thought that we liked each other. Now you say he does it to everyone.”

“Yeah, maybe, but the funny thing about Sven,” Jack said thoughtfully, “is that he  _does_  seriously think it every time." 

Her eyes grew wide.

"Don’t worry about it though, Anna,” Elsa reassured her. “You can be with who you want to be with, or don’t be with who you don’t want to be with, and if anyone says otherwise, you can kill them.”

_If only it were that easy…_

“Kill them? Dear sister, you’ve gotten violent. I like it.”

“Yeah, she’s a pretty badass lady.” Jack kissed Elsa on the cheek. “I’d stick around, but I promised Bulda I’d help frost the cake. See you later.”

As Jack walked away, Anna did not miss the little smile on her sister’s lips. A little pang of envy shot through her.

“You guys are so easy together,” she murmured. 

“I guess,” Elsa said, shrugging. “It’s hard to get along sometimes, since we’re so different. But…I dunno. We make it work. Like every good relationship.”

Anna thought about this.

“What do you…do when you fight?”

Elsa was silent for a few moments.

“Well, during the actual fight, I try to make him see my point of view. Later, when I’m less emotional, I try to see his. I try to compromise, but at the same time, I know my own opinions are valid.”

Both sisters were quiet.

“Is there a reason you wanted to know that?”

“Maybe.”

More quiet.

“Thanks for that dress, by the way. I really liked it.”

“Huh?” Anna blinked. “Oh, you mean the one I got you for your birthday? I thought you would. Well, um, I mean, I wasn’t sure at first, cause you used to dress really differently than you do now, but Kristoff helped. But it was still my idea to get it!” she finished hurriedly.

Elsa chuckled softly.

“I guessed that.”

“Thanks. Hey, um, Elsa?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you…why did you shut me out when you were eighteen?”

A shadow passed over her sister’s face and her features grew tight. It was a moment before she spoke.

“I was…stressed, Anna,” Elsa replied, slowly and carefully. “I thought that…after Mom and Dad died, I should be…the authority, the parent, the breadwinner. But I also had college to go to on top of that. I lost myself in my work, and didn’t know how to be a parent anyway. Or, for that matter, a sister." 

Anna immediately knew that Elsa was telling the truth. But something told her that it wasn’t  _all_  of the truth.

"Anything else?”

Elsa hesitated.

“No, that’s it.”

Anna slumped down in the nearest couch, feeling disappointed. Her sister studied her for a few moments.

“Want me to go get some food?”

“Sure,” Anna replied dispassionately. Then all of what Elsa said registered.

“Food? Oh yes, please. I’m so hungry.”

“You’re  _always_  hungry,” Elsa grinned, before darting off into the crowd.

Anna smiled, but still wondered. What was her sister hiding?

She was so lost in thought, she didn’t even notice the huge hulking man coming up behind her.

“Hey there. I was told by a certain pack of small children that my girlfriend was here.”

Anna craned her neck back to peer up at him.

“You really weren’t kidding when you said your family meddled around in your love life.”

“Obviously.” Kristoff sat down next to her, making the couch groan in protest. “How are things with your sister?”

“Okay.” Anna blew her bangs out of her eyes. “I think it’s getting better.”

“Was it worth going to that shopping center and bickering for an hour for?”

“Oh! That reminds me." 

She dug around in her jacket pocket until she found his present.

"Sorry, it’s kinda small. But I remember you said you were from Norway, and I was just in this store the other day, and the guy I bought it from said that he was too, and his family taught him how to carve bone…”

She handed the small package to him. Slowly, he unwrapped it and brought out the length of leather with the carved reindeer antler hanging on it. It was polished white, with spiraling shapes engraved on it. 

“It’s um, a necklace,” she explained awkwardly. “I dunno if you wear jewelry, sorry. I just thought it was cool.”

He looked up at her.

“I like it,” he said softly. “I really like it.”

She grinned happily, her cheeks reddening.

“Hi again, guys.”

They both turned around to see Elsa standing there. There was an odd sort of smirk on her face, and she was holding plates full of delicious-smelling food. She looked like some kind of modern-day goddess of fertility.

“Do I get a present, too?” she asked as she sat down on Anna’s other side.

She did, as a matter of fact. Anna gave her a pair of beaded turquoise earrings, while Kristoff gave her new paintbrushes. Aside from Anna’s necklace, Kristoff also got a Washington Capitals sweatshirt, and Anna got a flower-print silk scarf as well as a really cool set of headphones. She was really excited about the headphones until Kristoff told her that they were for the next time she wanted to listen to her dumb pop music with him in the room. She promptly threatened to smack him while Elsa laughed.

“ _Why_  I hang out with you, I have no idea,” she huffed.

“'Cause you  _loooovvvve_  him,” sing-songed a small voice from the other side of the couch.

“Slate, is that you?” Elsa sighed.

“Not just. There Garnet, Amethyst, and Sven here too.”

“Not my idea,” grumbled a teenage-girl voice.

“Slate, honey, it’s  _just_  Amy,” said a different one.

“Sven says that you being an-ti-so-sal,” Slate added. “He says you need to be with evveyone else now.”

Kristoff stuck his head over the side of the couch.

“Brother or not, I am going to  _kill_  you.”

“What’s so bad about being with everyone else?” Anna asked. 

Elsa groaned.

“It means that you’re going to be introduced to all the rest of the Bjorgmans.”

“So?”

“So they all still think that you’re Kristoff’s girlfriend.”

“Oh. Dammit.”

“Wait, you’re not?” Amy asked.

“I knew it,” Garnet muttered.

Sven popped his head up from behind the couch. Kristoff tried to grab him, but he ducked out of the way, talking to Anna. Elsa started translating.

_Come on you guys. The three of you have been avoiding everyone else for the whole party, and it’s Christmas. Mom’s starting to get worried, and Anna needs to meet the rest of the family._

“Will they all ask me embarrassing personal questions?” Anna asked.

_Maybe. Probably. Most likely._

“Okay.” She got to her feet. “Bring it on." 

"Seriously?” Elsa asked as Kristoff and Sven continued to play whack-your-brother. “Anna, you know they can be a little…inappropriate. No offense, guys.”

“None taken,” Amy replied. “But we’re also–”

“Loud,” Garnet interrupted. “Very loud. And stubborn, at times.”

“'At times?’” Elsa muttered.

  
_And a little overbearing,_  Sven added.

“And heavy,” Slate piped up. “Really, really heavy. Know 'cause Cousin Crag once sat on me.”

“Isn’t Cousin Crag the one with the dirt collection who tried to elope with me?” Elsa asked.

“There you are, Anna dear!" 

Everyone wheeled around. Kristoff froze with his fist an inch away from Sven. 

Bulda was standing there beaming. The whole Bjorgman clan was gathered behind her, peering at Anna eagerly. Apparently, their brief brush with her earlier hadn’t been enough for them. The only people who weren’t were a pair of college-age boys near the back who were arguing about a twenty-dollar bill and something about Kristoff and closets.

"Anna, dear, where were you? We’ve barely seen you all evening! I couldn’t even give you your Christmas present!" 

Bulda scowled accusingly at her sons.

"Was it one of you two who pulled her away from the rest of us?”

“Yeah!” shouted one of the kids. “Kristoff and Anna, sitting in a tree…”

Elsa and Sven promptly started cracking up. Kristoff looked like he wanted to melt into the floor.

Anna decided to save him.

“Actually it was Elsa’s fault, ma'am. You can blame her for everything.”

“Oh thanks,” the sister in question grumbled. “Throw  _me_  under the bus.”

“So!” Anna spread her arms out wide. “Any of you have questions?”

“Are you sure that you wanna stick with Kristoff? You’re too pretty for him.”

“Crag!”

“I’ve got one,” called a squat middle-aged man. “Can my wife finally give you your present? She’s been going nuts all evening.”

“Cliff!”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Kristoff spoke up. “Mom, you should give Anna her present.”

Looking slightly mollified, Bulda handed Anna a somewhat lumpy and soft package with snowmen printed on the wrapping paper. Curious, Anna swiftly unwrapped it to find a lovely green dress with traditional rosemaling designs embroidered on it. Underneath the dress was a Tupperware container of homemade fudge. 

“Whoa,” she breathed. “Did you make this?”

“The dress? Oh no!” the older woman laughed. “It was mine when I was young and still living in Oslo.”

“The Jurassic Period,” shouted one of the teenagers.

“Mind your manners,  _ung dame!_ ” scolded another woman.

“Thank you, Crystal. Where was I?”

The presents, Sven said helpfully.

“Oh yes. The fudge I did make, well, with a little help from one of my boys. Kristoff’s the  _real_  chef in our family.”

Kristoff turned scarlet and mumbled about how it was nothing.

 "Thank you!“ Anna exclaimed. "Both of you. All of you. Whichever.”

Bulda beamed happily and seized Anna in another rib-crushing hug. 

When she let go, Anna was surrounded by a flurry of relatives again.

“How did you meet Kristoff?”

“Do you want to have kids someday?”

“It was my idea to make you fudge.”

“Why did you have to be engaged?”

“I like your sweater.”

It took a while, but she tried to talk to as many of them and answer as many of their questions as she could. When a lull in the conversation finally occurred, Kristoff took her hand and guided her into the relatively unoccupied kitchen. The only other person in there was a older guy taking a nap at the table.

“Why’d you bring me here?” Anna asked.

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Just uh…in case my family was getting a little bit too much for you.”

“What are you talking about? I like your family.”

He blinked a few times, looking surprised.

“You do?”

“Yeah! They’re awesome. Just kinda overenthusiastic about your love life. Like you said. Do they seriously do that to every girl you bring over?”

If that was possible, Kristoff looked even more embarrassed.

“I’ve…never brought any girl over, except for Elsa, and that was after she hired me and after she and Jack started dating.”

Anna raised her eyebrows.

“You’re one of those v-words, huh?”

 He leaned in and shushed her dramatically.

“If I ever do get a girlfriend, you can’t tell her,” he whispered.

“Cross my heart. But do you really think you’ll get a girlfriend with the attitude you have?”

“Such little faith.”

The old guy at the table sighed, and began to stir.

“Kristoff?” he murmured. “Is that you?”

“Hey, Grandpa,” Kristoff said, abruptly switching his tone. “Nice to see you’ve been avoiding the crowds.”

His grandpa chuckled.

“You know I love my family, but I do need some quiet sometimes.” His attention moved to Anna. “Who’s this young lady?”

“Oh!” Kristoff exclaimed. “Grandpa, this is Anna Winters. She’s my friend and Elsa’s sister. Anna, this is my grandfather, Pabbie Bjorgman.”

Pabbie looked at Anna thoughtfully. He was maybe in his eighties, with Einstein-esque thick white hair, a strange necklace of yellow crystals, and smile wrinkles around his eyes. He was dressed more tastefully than Bulda, in brown slacks and an olive green sweater.

“My grandsons already told me about you,” he said. “Are you really engaged?”

Anna nodded, somehow unwilling to show him her ring. It seemed too flashy.

“But you’ve been separated from your sister up until quite recently?”

Anna sighed.

“Yeah. We had this big fight, and…I dunno, even now she’s still distancing herself from me. I don’t know what to do.”

“Give her time,” Pabbie advised. “Elsa, like some other people I know–” here he shot an amused look at his grandson “–has trouble opening herself up and making herself vulnerable. Also, she’s most likely still getting used to having you back. Don’t rush her, or she’ll close herself off even more.”

Anna nodded.

“I um…have another question. How do you know if someone loves you?”

Kristoff gave her a curious look. Pabbie raised his bushy eyebrows.

“What an unusual question. Well, in my experience, people, whether intentionally or not, prove their love through selfless actions.”

“Selfless,” Anna murmured. “Love is selfless?”

“Of course.”

Anna looked over at Kristoff, who looked as thoughtful as she was feeling.

“Selfless. Okay, last question. I need to settle something with Kristoff.”

“Yes?”

“Which is better: Beyonce, or The Rolling Stones?”

“Obviously it is Beyonce.”

“Ha! Told you so!”

Kristoff groaned.

“Why do I even bother?”

 

 

It wasn’t until after midnight and after everyone had had several hours of a wonderful time that Elsa volunteered to drive Anna home. Unlike the last time they’d been in a car together, the two sisters talked all the way back about everything they could think of: whether potato chips were better than Doritos, the possibility of having children later, Chris Pine’s alleged hotness, the situation in Pakistan, and exactly how stupid they would look in a crop top. When they said goodbye, Elsa even shook her hand; which wasn’t a hug, but it was good enough. 

Anna couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so happy. As she headed upstairs and into her apartment, her wave of high was so exhilarating that she didn’t even notice what was wrong. 

That was before she realized that Sitron was hiding behind the curtains and whimpering.

Then she realized something else.

An entire hour earlier than she’d expected, Hans was home.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so...this gets pretty dark. Also, there's another warning for abuse/rape for the first part of the chapter. Tell Anna that I'm so sorry.

 

The presents tumbled to the floor out of Anna’s arms while she stood numbly, paralyzed with shock. Her legs and body seemed to have been rooted to the floor, even as her instincts screamed at her to run away.

Hans rose from the armchair he was seated at and strode over calmly to her. His face was blank and flat, his eyes cold. His hands were clenched into fists.

“Anna.”

“I…I thought you were going to be back at two,” she whispered.

“So you thought you could take advantage of that and sneak out.”

“Yes, I mean no, I mean I–”

“Shut up.”

“Look, I didn’t do anything wrong, it was just a party–”

“Shut  _up._ ” His voice had become a snarl.

But Anna  _hadn’t_  done anything wrong. All she’d done was go to a party, for God’s sake. With her  _friends._

“Hey look, literally all I wanted to do was to spend some time with people I care about, and it’s not  _my_ fault if you wouldn’t have let me–" 

"I said  _shut up!_ " 

She heard the blow before she felt it, and as her cheek burned, she had a strange flashback to the day she’d graduated from high school. But as she looked up at her fiancé, there was none of the shock and horror that had been written across Elsa’s face at the time. There was only that same awful cold blankness.

"You,” Hans snarled, and fast as a snake, he seized her by the neck, his fingers like steel clamps across her jugular, “are a  _liar,_  and a  _bitch_ –” with every word, Anna winced, “and I’ve had  _enough_  of your–” He paused, and looked at her oddly.

Anna swallowed hard as best she could.

“Oh, my love. You misunderstand me.”

“How so?” she rasped.

“Silence.” He squeezed her neck, and she gagged. “All this is…I never want you to leave me, Anna.”

“You’ve…got a funny way…of showing it,” she retorted, astonished by her own boldness.

  
_Did I really just_   _say that? What’s_  happening  _to me?_

Hans must’ve thought the same thing. Shock flashed across his face before his brows gathered together. Anna barely had time to recognize the signs before the squeezing of her neck grew so tight that she nearly blacked out.

“Let me finish,” he continued in his most soothing voice. “I want to keep you near me, Anna, because I love you. And since I do, I must always be sure of you. Always.” He came in close, until the tips of their noses were millimeters away and she could feel his cool breath across her face. “Was there…a man at this party that you went to?”

Her breath hitched in her constricted throat.

“N-no,” she choked.

“Liar,” Hans breathed. “You’re too honest to convincingly lie to me, my love.”

Anna’s oxygen-depleted brain was swimming. Was there anything that could save this situation? _Anything?_

“Yes,” she gasped. “There…there w-was a man. He…was a friend of one of my friends.” That was true, if not fully. She still knew that Hans couldn’t know about reacquainting herself with Elsa. “B-but it was a woman who drove…me home. It…was…mostly women…at the party. I…c-can’t…breathe.”

Hans’ grip loosened, and Anna fell to the floor, gasping. She looked up at him, and even with her blurry vision, she could see the lack of remorse.

“Get up.”

Shaking, she rose to her feet.

“Yes?”

In an unnaturally smooth motion, he swept forward and snatched her by the wrist. Dragging her off like a bad dog, he started to pull her toward their bedroom.

“No!” she choked out.

This time, she was expecting the blow.

“No? I think you still don’t understand, love.”

Before she could think, he was stripping her. Her jeans, underwear, and socks were kicked away roughly, and he yanked off her beloved sweater so hard it ripped in nearly two pieces.

Despite herself, she began to sob.

“If you had betrayed my love and strayed from my bed, you might have found a man who touches you like  _this._ ”

A gentle, tender caress that was completely  _unlike_  Hans made its way across her breasts and down towards her groin. His other hand, meanwhile, gripped her wrists and pinned her back against their bed.

“But why would you want that? You know perfectly well that you don’t deserve it.”

His fingernails dug inside her  _hard,_  and she bit back a cry. Tears leaked out of her eyes.

“You stay with me,” Hans hissed in her ear, “because you know, deep down, that you like this. That instead of being somehow treated like a precious gem, a priceless treasure, you  _enjoy_  being treated like the worthless whore you really are.”

Another sob burst out of her throat.

“Hold still, love." 

Anna clenched her teeth imperceptibly, and when he tried to touch her again, her body was deliberately shaking too hard.

An exasperated sigh ruffled the air.

"Why must I have to repeat everything to you all the time? It’s very inconsiderate of you to make me do this.”

His nails dug into her again and again until she climaxed, and Anna had to tell herself to endure it until the end.

 

 

Afterwards, the time slowly crept past until it was past two in the morning. Hans had already fallen asleep. Instead of lying next him and crying the way she might’ve a few months ago, once Anna was sure that he was asleep, she pulled on some clean clothing and limped her way to the door. Swiftly, she scooped up her presents and hid them at the top of the hall closet with the cleaning supplies. She knew they’d be safe there. She was the only one who used the cleaning supplies these days. Afterwards, as silently as possible, she slipped out of the apartment.

Lumiere had turned in for the night. Everyone else was in their own apartments, either sleeping or trying to. The building was completely silent as she walked out into the constant hum of the pre-dawn city.

The lights at Capitol Building and the top of the Washington Monument blinked at her. A few neon signs and streetlights accompanied them, and Anna appreciated the light for the purpose of taking a walk.

Where was she going? She wasn’t really sure. All she knew was that even walking through a cold, mostly unpopulated city in the dark was preferable to spending another night crying in bed.

Pulling out her phone, she checked the time.

2:57 in the morning.

Still had more than two hours before Hans got up.

Satisfied, she continued down the sidewalk, humming old Christmas carols under her breath and taking in the view by the dimmed lights as best she could.

After she’d been walking for about fifteen minutes, a familiar store front came into view. It was the Lucky Cat Cafe, now closed for the night, where Elsa had taken her and Kristoff for coffee.

Anna grinned to herself at the memory. That had been quite possibly the most awkward date she’d ever been on, and considering all the experiences she’d had with her exes, that was saying something.

She sat down on the sidewalk before pulling out her phone and dialing a familiar number.

_You have reached the office of Elsa Frost of Arendelle’s Ice, maker of America’s favorite ice cream. I am currently unavailable, so please leave a message after the tone._

Well, she should’ve seen that coming. Not even Elsa would be crazy enough to be at work at past three in the morning. But Anna still didn’t have her sister’s new cell phone number, so this would have to do for now.

The beep sounded. Anna cleared her throat.

“Um, hey Elsa. It’s Anna. I mean, duh, you probably have caller ID and stuff. But that’s not the point.” She took a deep breath. “I know that it’s late right now, and you may be wondering why I’m not in bed. That’s not important. All I wanted to say is that I’m probably not going to be able to see you in person for a little while. You or Kristoff.” Her voice caught on his name. “I’m…going to be busy. But I still don’t want to lose you, so if you could call me back and give me your cell number and email, that would be great. I…I’ll, um, see you around. Bye sis.”

She hit the END CALL button, and stared out across the street for a few moments. Then she scrolled through her contacts list.

Even though it was the ungodly hours of the morning, he still picked up pretty quickly.

“Anna, why is it that every time you call me, it’s ridiculously late?”

“Well, you picked up, didn’t you?” she replied, her voice almost breaking in relief. “I needed to tell you something.”

“Now? Is it that important?” he asked, his irritation disappearing from his voice.

“Yeah, I think. Okay, look, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to see you or Elsa again for a little while.”

“Why not?”

Her prepared lie rose up in her throat, but she still replied,

“I’m just going to be busy. I dunno when it’s going to get better, but I’ll still call you two and stuff–”

“How could you know if you’ll be busy? Did your boss call you back in the middle of the night?”

Anna faltered.

“Look, I just know, okay?”

“That’s not a very good answer.”

“Kristoff, I’m serious. It’s not like I’d stay away from you and Elsa on  _purpose._  You guys are my friends. It’s just until things cool down.”

“Until  _what_  things cool down? Anna, you’re lying to me.” She could hear the anger rising in Kristoff’s voice. “Why are you lying to me?”

“None of your business,” she snapped. “I’m just telling you that I’m going to be busy.”

“And I  _just_  know that you’re lying!”

“Kristoff, just drop it, okay!?”

“No, I won’t! If you have problems, you should just fucking  _tell_  someone instead of hiding it!”

“You just fucking stop  _right there!_ ” Anna yelled. One lone other pedestrian gave a weird glance. “Stop asking me questions that have nothing to do with you! For fuck’s sake, don’t you think I can handle my own problems!?”

“Friends help each other, and I thought  _we_  were friends.  _Thought,_ ” he spat bitterly.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she spat back, and hung up before he could answer. It was only Kristoff’s face disappeared from the screen of her phone that she realized.

_Oh my God. I sound like_  Elsa.  _Five years of living with Hans, and I end up turning into my sister._

Anna sat numbly on the sidewalk curb for a moment or so. Then she leaped to her feet and kicked the cafe’s door as hard as she could, again and again. The door rattled and creaked on its hinges, the  _Sorry, We’re Closed_  sign fell off, and Anna cried.

It didn’t take long before a kid in his pajamas who couldn’t have been older than fourteen came running up to the door from the inside. He fumbled around with the lock, and then wrenched the door open. Anna stumbled forward.

“Hey!” he shouted. “What gives? It’s three-fifteen in the morning!”

Anna only stared at him.

“Yeah! You heard me! You know, some people are trying to sleep right now, and – hey, are you okay, lady? Oh. No, you’re not. Well, sorry.”

Seeming almost embarrassed, the kid went back inside, shooting Anna a sympathetic look as he did.

Feeling ashamed of herself for waking up a teenaged kid, Anna turned on her heel and ran off blindly down the street. Tears still stung her eyes, and her feet struck the pavement like blows. She didn’t stop until she realized that she’d come in front of a place that she hadn’t been to since she was a high school senior. A place of flashing lights, frantic dancing, and men and women alike looking for a good time.

“The Court of Miracles,” she murmured, reading the neon purple sign for the thousandth time.

The man at the door, Clopin, smirked at her as she walked over.

“Back so soon, eh Anna?”

“I know, I know,” she said. “It’s been a few years.”

“Disappointing indeed. Well, I suppose you have money?”

She shoved a few bills in his hand and headed inside.

Just as she remembered it. The strobe lights flashed in a hundred different colors across the massive crowd of brightly dressed patrons who danced and drank indiscriminately. Sensual music with a heavy beat pulsed through the air. A beautiful amber-skinned woman pole-danced nearly naked to the music on the elevated stage; this one curvaceous with a curly mane of black hair and catlike green eyes. 

Anna felt out of place at first with her jeans and sweater, but as she launched herself into the beat, she forgot it. Soon, like the old days, she had attracted a posse of men.

“You want money too, sweetheart?”

“Damn, she can dance. Maybe someday we’ll see  _her_  up on that stage." 

"Think you could forget about that ring for a night, babe?”

To be dancing on her own, feeling sexy again…it was exhilarating. It had been years since she’d felt sexy. 

The feeling only increased as one of the men walked up to her.

“Hey there,” he said, grinning wickedly. “Can I buy you a drink?”

Normally, Anna would’ve shook her head and told the guy to butt out, I’m engaged. But instead, what came out of her mouth was,

“Sure, why not?”

The guy’s grin only grew wider. He had a quick exchange with the bartender before handing her a martini.

Anna sipped the drink, before abruptly changing her mind and tossing the whole thing down in one gulp.

The guy and all his friends immediately whooped with delight and started applauding.

“I like you,” he murmured, moving closer to her, the heat radiating off his body like a furnace.

Anna’s heart beat faster. In that moment, she forgot Hans, forgot Kristoff and her sister, forgot everyone, just her and a man who actually found her attractive…

“Hey,” interrupted a female voice. “Leave the girl alone. Can’t you see her hand, you smarmy bastard?”

The guy’s face crumpled in exasperation.

“Jesus Christ, woman,” he groaned. “Do you have to ruin  _everything?_  The girl wasn’t saying no.”

Anna turned to see who her almost-hookup was talking to, and was surprised to see the exotic dancer girl, clad in barely more than scraps of purple and red silk. Her piercing green eyes were narrowed. 

“I don’t care what she was or wasn’t saying, leave her alone.”

“You know what, why don’t we settle this and ask her? Do you want me to leave you alone?”

Anna snapped back out of her trance.

“Yes actually. I do.”

The guy scowled, and then turned to the dancer.

“You’re not going to be able to save everyone, you know.”

“Just one will do. Now you heard her; get going.”

To the guy’s credit, he backed off and walked away, even with a lot of grumbling. His friends, meanwhile, all shot Anna angry looks.

The dancer took Anna by the shoulder and guided her back through the crowd towards the door.

“Listen girl, pro tip: don’t come back here. The Court of Miracles is only for people who are unhappy with themselves and have hit their personal bottom.”

“I used to come here in high school.”

“My point exactly.” The dancer paused. “I know what you’re thinking, by the way. Why am I telling you not to sleep with someone if I flash my tits for money?”

Anna hadn’t actually been thinking that, but she decided that now was not the time to interrupt.

“Because you are not me, and because you deserve better than some stranger who won’t even remember you in the morning." 

"You don’t know me,” Anna protested.

“Who cares? If you think you owe yourself sex, that’s fine. Great even. You should have it with someone who thinks you’re a princess. Some men don’t care who you are or about you at all, only that you have a vagina. Don’t sleep with those men, honey. You don’t deserve that.”

They’d reached the door, and the dancer girl reached into the side of her G-string and pulled out a hundred dollar bill.

“Here. To make up for your entrance fee.”

“I can’t take your money!”

“Please. On an average night, I make five hundred bucks an hour. This is the least I can do.”

With trembling fingers, Anna took the money and folded it into her pocket. 

“I’m never going be able to make this up to you, even if I ever see you again,” she told the dancer. “Thank you.”

The other woman nodded, her eyes alight but her face unchanging.

“Don’t thank me. Just go, and see if you can get yourself off the bottom.”

Anna nodded vigorously before turning and running out into the night. 

 

 

It didn’t take her long to make it back to the apartment building. She slipped into the lobby still unseen and unheard and checked the time on her phone. 

4:32 in the morning.

_Thank God._

Anna started to climb the stairs back to the apartment. When she was about halfway up, something occurred to her, and she paused just long enough to send off a quick text.

_I’m so sorry for our fight. I didn’t mean it when I said that we shouldn’t be friends, and I really do wish I were able to see you face-to-face. Will you please forgive me? -A_

By the time she made it back up into the apartment, got back into her pajamas, and was about to slip into bed for her very short sleep, her phone buzzed with his reply. She picked it up and couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

_You’re already forgiven. Gonna miss you, but hope you make it through okay.  See you soon. -K_


	8. Chapter 7

 

February. That’s how long Anna had to wait to see her sister and friend in person, before Hans relaxed enough for her to be able to sneak out to see them again. For a month and a half, the phone calls had been constant and whenever Anna could find the time: during coffee breaks at work, on walks with Sitron, in the car (which drove both of them crazy with worry), when she was grocery shopping. Once or twice, she even managed to sneak in her phone while she was taking a bath.

They didn’t talk about anything earth-shattering or particularly profound. Often, it was nothing more important than complaining about their respective jobs, but through those phone calls, Anna got to know both of them like they’d been a trio for years.

Kristoff’s tendency to use his body soap on his hair.

Elsa’s to fall asleep during action movies (unless Marvel had made them).

How Kristoff loved Terry Pratchett and  _Law and Order._

How Elsa did indeed still drink mocha every morning.

That Kristoff had won a state snowboarding tournament when he was twenty-one.

That Elsa had learned fluent Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish.

In return, Anna told them about herself: how she’d marathoned all ten seasons of  _Friends_  when she’d had a particularly bad case of stomach flu, that she put chocolate milk in her raisin bran, how she’d finally completed a triathlon, the time she’d drawn a Dark Mark on Meg’s arm when her friend fell asleep during a dinner shift, and that she’d memorized all her favorite dialogue from  _An Abundance of Katherines._

Also, she finally confessed to Elsa that she didn’t like caramel anymore.

Once she was able to see them in person again, none of them could get enough of it, bickering and all. They had to squeeze their time together from spare moments, like illicit lovers, but it was worth it. Of course, Kristoff and Elsa kept growing suspicious of the fact that they still had to do this, but that was worth it too.

Chilly February turned into the beginnings of rainy March, and Anna grew excited anyway. She and her sister had made plans to have movie night over at Elsa’s home, and she’d never been over at Elsa’s home before. Anna triple-checked that Hans would be working sufficiently late that night, and Jack was going to spend the evening out with some of his own friends. So the two sisters would have from six until eleven all to themselves.

Naturally, with something so wonderful to look forward to, Anna was completely freaked out.

By the time the big night had come and it was almost time for Elsa to pick her up, she was frantically pacing the living room back and forth, glancing at the clock every few seconds.

From his vantage point on the sofa, Sitron whined at her.

“I know, I know! I shouldn’t be so stressed out. I’m picking up bad habits from  _her._  But I’m so excited! I wanna have a girls’ night with my sister, which we haven’t done since we were fifteen and eighteen. I wanna act all girly and gossipy and watch movies while we eat her baked goods, cause let me tell you, she makes THE best cookies ever. But I’m scared. What if it goes badly? What if she doesn’t show up? What if she doesn’t make cookies?”

The dog jumped off the sofa and went over to his mistress, nuzzling and licking her hand.

Anna bent down and scratched him behind the ears.

“Yeah…I’m being silly, aren’t I? It’s gonna go great! Of course it’s gonna go great! Who’s a good boy? Who’s the prince of puppy town?”

The doorbell promptly rang.

“Oh my God!”

Sitron ran up to the door, barking excitedly. Anna leaped to her feet, wiped off her hands, and quickly flattened her bangs. She took a deep breath. Then she grabbed the door knob and pulled it open.

Elsa stood there in skinny jeans, black leather boots, and a floaty lilac top. Over this stylish ensemble, she had on the most ridiculously bright yellow rain poncho Anna had ever seen.

“Hi. No comments on the poncho,” were the first words out of her sister’s mouth. “It was a present from one of Jack’s friends who loves bright colors, and she’s too nice for me not to wear it.”

“Gotcha. Oh, uh, sorry about the dog.”

“It’s okay. Hey, there boy.”

Sitron wagged his tail so hard it nearly propelled itself off his backside.

Elsa bent down and continued to talk while rubbing him behind the ears.

“If you want, you can go ahead and go down to the car. I left it unlocked.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be down soon. Just uh…give me a minute.”

“Nobody can resist the puppy face,” Anna grinned, before heading out the door and down the elevator.

Once she’d gotten into her sister’s car, she settled into the shotgun seat and relaxed. The keys weren’t in the ignition (Elsa wasn’t stupid), but the seats and interior were still warm. The rain drumming on the windows was actually quite soothing, especially since it was outside.

Anna had started casually rifling through the CD collection in the glove compartment when her sister climbed into the driver’s seat. Elsa’s braided hair was damp and her graceful hands were covered in dog hair.

“Find anything you like?”

“Not yet. Your glove compartment’s too freaking clean and organized for me to find anything.”

Elsa rolled her eyes as she twisted her key in the ignition.

“You’re one to talk, my formerly messy sister. I saw that apartment, and I’m pretty sure that if Sitron weren’t there, I could’ve eaten off the floor. Maybe even then. What happened to you, that you changed your cleaning habits so much?”

Anna leaned back in her seat and looked out her window at the buildings passing by.

“Hans likes a clean apartment.”

The mirth disappeared from Elsa’s voice.

“I could tell,” she replied softly.

But when Anna turned back to face her sister, her normal expression had come back.

“Do you have anything in mind for what you want to watch tonight?”

Anna brightened.

“You mean I can pick?”

“Sure. And it doesn’t matter what you like; I’ve got everything from  _Star Wars_  to  _Invictus_  to  _Pitch Perfect._  Kind of like my taste in music.”

“I can see that,” Anna replied, who had just found Owl City, The Civil Wars, and Nicki Minaj right next to each other. “How about we watch a musical?”

“Sounds good, if I can possibly get through this traffic…”

“I’ll handle that.” Before Elsa could do anything to stop her, Anna rolled down her window and started hollering profanities at the BMW that had been blocking both lanes. The driver honked his horn loudly at her in a very irritated way before finally turning left towards the Mall.

“See?” Anna said cheerfully, rolling her windows back up. “Piece of cake.”

“It’s now official. You’re crazy.”

“Somebody’s got to be, sis. Somebody’s got to be.”

 

 

Elsa’s apartment building was far downtown near the Potomac and the White House. It was just as modern and upscale as Anna would have expected; even more so than Hans and hers’. Elsa’s apartment itself was on the top floor, with a birds-eye view over the whole city, which was also to be expected. What took Anna by surprise was how her sister had  _decorated._

Elsa’s beautiful landscapes adorned the blue walls, with soft furniture in wintery colors populating the living room. The kitchen was clean and organized, but still overflowing with food, drinks, spices, and condiments. Bookshelves seemed to be in every room, with books on every shelf and collections of pretty or funny ornaments resting on top. Huge windows and terraces let light in everywhere. 

Not for the first time, a pang of envy for her sister struck through Anna. Elsa was not only a savvy businesswoman and entrepreneur, a loving wife, an artist, an intellectual, and gracefully beautiful to boot. Now she was talented at home economics too? Was this woman even human?   

Elsa kicked off her boots and poncho before running to the fridge and grabbing out two Cokes. She then pulled a Tupperware container of chocolate-chip cookies from the top of the fridge and stuck one in her mouth before coming over to Anna with it all.

“Ah’ve ‘ot ah meh'oo an’ nuhur foh – ah, 'uck ih.” She handed Anna the Cokes and rest of the cookies before taking hers out of her mouth. “What I mean is that I’ve got a menu and number for Chinese food by the cordless phone. If you order, you can pick, and I’ll go set up the movie.”

Anna laughed and put the Cokes and cookies down on the floor before grabbing the phone. Before she dialed, she watched her sister dramatically flipping through her DVDs like she was in a music video, and once she’d loaded the DVD player, flopping bonelessly down on the couch. 

_She moves more like a wet noodle or a sleepy cat than a person,_  Anna thought with a grin before she finally dialed the number.   

 

 

Before long, the two women were settled comfortably with plenty of food, soda, and  _West Side Story._ Both of them provided their own running commentary, and Anna sang along loudly to all the songs.

“That is  _not_  a realistic depiction of how people meet,” Elsa declared as Tony’s and Maria’s eyes met from across the dance floor.

“Well, it’s supposed to be romantic,” Anna countered.

“Screw romantic.” Elsa popped a scallion and vegetable dumpling in her mouth whole. It was nearly half a minute before she was able to speak again. “Romantic is what got everybody dead.”

“Buzz kill,” Anna grumbled, thwacking her with a throw pillow. “Shut up and let me watch.”

It wasn’t even sixty seconds before she spoke up again. 

“By the way, oh Miss Screw-Romantic, how did you meet your husband?”

Elsa didn’t even hesitate.

“I dropped a carton of ice cream on his head.”

Anna let fall a chopstick-full of noodles into her lap.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. One day about three years ago, I was up on one of the catwalks, and I was having an argument with one of my employees about some shipments of Mint Forest that were missing the chocolate chips. I had a carton of it in my hand and was waving it around and pointing at it for emphasis. At least I did before it went flying out of my hand and down into the main factory below.”

“What the hell was Jack doing in your factory?”

“He was doing a tour of it.”

“Oh.”

“Luckily, the ice cream carton only glanced his head, otherwise I might’ve killed him and that would’ve given me extra paperwork.”

Anna snorted into her Coke. 

“So anyway, I ran to the side of the catwalk and looked over, and saw the unconscious guy with a bunch of other tourists panicking around him. Naturally, I panicked too and ran down, terrified that I  _had_  killed him. I pushed the other tourists out of the way and bent over him to see if he was okay. Then his eyes opened, he saw me–”

“Don’t tell me,” Anna interrupted. “He asked you out.”

“Exactly.”

She hooted with laughter.

“At first I was relieved that he wasn’t dead, then I got mad and slapped him for having the audacity to automatically assume that I was single.”

“Were you?”

“Yes, but that’s not important.”

“Suuuuurrre,” Anna muttered, looking up the screen. Tony was now doing his romantic solo about Maria.  

“Anyway, somebody called an ambulance and Jack got taken to the hospital, and I got lucky because I didn’t kill anyone or get sued. I didn’t see him again for another couple days, when I was going into the Lucky Cat to grab some breakfast, and I accidentally ran into him ordering coffee. We started talking, I was late for work for the first time in my life, and we had our first date that night. He proposed a year later, and we got married six months after that.”

Anna slurped up the last of her noodles and grabbed two cookies.

“Cool story sis.”

“Thanks,” Elsa replied, reaching for one herself.

“So when did you two sleep together for the first time?”

Elsa promptly choked on her cookie. When she finally stopped coughing, she gasped,

“Where did  _that_  come from?”

“Isn’t that what girls do at sleepovers? Talk about boys and sex and sacrificing to the devil?”

“You specifically told me that this couldn’t be a sleepover.”

“You’re nitpicking,” Anna sing-songed, pointing a teasing finger at her sister.

“Well…you’re one to talk anyway,” Elsa said quickly. “I’ve seen how you and Kristoff have been acting around each other recently.”

Now it was Anna’s turn to start choking. When she recovered, she started spluttering.

“What? What are you talking about? You sound like Sven, it’s so ridiculous. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re blushing.”

“I have bright hair and light skin; I blush all the time. Can we just watch the movie?”

Elsa smirked.

“You didn’t seem so eager to watch the movie when it was my personal life we were talking about.”

“I’m  _engaged,_  Elsa. And also there’s nothing between Kristoff and me.”

That wasn’t quite true. Ever since they’d started seeing each other face-to-face again the previous month, something about their relationship had definitely changed.

“Oh really?” Elsa’s Cheshire Cat grin grew wider. “In that case, you wouldn’t mind if he came in and watched the movie with us.”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” Anna scoffed.

“It’d be easy for him to come over; he only lives a few blocks away. You know what? I think I’ll call him.” She dug her iPhone out of her back pocket and started scrolling through her contacts list. 

“Wait, what? No!” Anna dove for the phone, but Elsa was too fast. She yanked it away from Anna’s reach and held it out at arm’s length. Anna tried to grab it, failed, and settled for whacking Elsa over the head with a pillow. 

Just when it looked like it was going to turn into an all-out pillow fight, the doorbell rang. Both sisters froze.

“Who do you think that is?”

The doorbell rang again, this time accompanied by loud and impatient knocking.

“Aw shit,” Elsa muttered. “I didn’t  _really_  want him to come over.”

“What?”

“Elsa?” called the familiar male voice on the other side of the door. Anna jumped. “Is um…someone in there with you?”

“Relax, Kristoff, it’s just me.”

“Anna?” He sounded surprised. “Um…what are you doing here?”

“She’s flying on a broom and stitching wings on monkeys,” Elsa replied sarcastically. “We’re watching a movie, dumbass.”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure she can speak for herself,” Kristoff retorted. “Second of all, if anybody around here’s the Wicked Witch of the West, Elsa, it’s  _you._ ”

“Ha ha ha. What are you even doing here?”

“You left your book on your desk at work, and I thought I should return it.”

Anna turned to her sister.

“You read at work?”

“Only at breaks,” she said quickly. “Okay fine, come in.”

Anna gulped as he came in, holding Elsa’s book in his hands. How had she not noticed how handsome he was when they first met? How his eyes shone when he smiled, how golden and thick his hair was, how strong his body was, his huge gentle hands…

_Stop that,_  she chided herself.  _You are_  engaged,  _remember? Besides, it’s not like he loves me back, romantically. Not that I love him romantically either!_

He lumbered over and passed the book over to Elsa, before looking over at the TV. The Jets were already waiting for the Sharks outside the drug store.

“What are you watching?”

“ _West Side Story,_ ” Elsa replied. 

“Isn’t that the New York gang version of  _Romeo and Juliet?_ ”

“Why do you care? Is it too girly for you, Bjorgman?” Anna taunted in spite of the butterflies in her stomach.

“Hardly.”

“Really?” she smirked. “If so, why don’t you prove it and watch the rest of it with us?”

“Really? I won’t be ruining your girl time or anything?”

“Oh, we’ll be alright,” Elsa replied. “Cookie?”

“Sure.”

Kristoff took the cookie and sat down on Anna’s other side. As the movie continued, the two of them unconsciously moved closer to each other.

It was warm and cozy, with Elsa on one side and Kristoff on the other. Through the talking and singing, Anna’s nervousness began to melt away.

_“I feel pretty, and witty, and bright…”_

Anna sang along as Maria danced euphorically across the screen.

“Do girls really feel like that when they’re in love?” Kristoff asked. “More beautiful and worthy?”

“When they’re loved back, yes,” Anna replied, before continuing the song.

“And when they’re  _not_  loved back,” Elsa added softly, “they feel  _less_  beautiful and worthy. The truth is sad and frustrating, especially for us women, but there it is.”

Kristoff was quiet for a long time afterward, until the end of the movie had come and Chino had shot Tony. Maria picked up Chino’s gun and pointed it at the Jets and Sharks, and shouted that they had killed Tony and all the others because of their hate for each other.

_“Now I can kill too, because I also have hate!”_  she yelled. But even then she didn’t, even after Tony’s body was taken away.

Elsa had palpable sadness in her eyes, and Kristoff bowed his head.

“Combined hatred and having to keep secrets,” Anna sighed. “That’s why the story of Romeo and Juliet never ends happily.”

“Does  _any_  love story?” Kristoff asked bitterly. “Even if it’s possible for them to love you back…it’ll always just end in breakup or death someday. No matter what.”

Anna looked over at him in surprise.

“Kristoff…did you love somebody once?”

Elsa sat up straight in her seat.

Kristoff looked up briefly before before going back to staring at his hands.

“Maybe,” he said carefully.

“Why didn’t she love you back?”

“She…had…someone else.”

“Oh, Kristoff.” Anna put a hand on his shoulder, and his whole body stiffened. “It’s okay. You’re a really sweet guy; you’ll find someone who  _does_  love you someday.”

“It’s fine. I don’t care anyway,” he muttered. “I don’t need love.”

Elsa slapped herself in the forehead and fell back against the couch.

“That’s ridiculous,” Anna said stubbornly. “Everybody needs love. Maybe not necessarily romantic love, but definitely some form of it.”

“Look Anna, I just…I don’t…”

Elsa sighed and got to her feet.

“Hey,” her sister protested. “Where are you going?”

“I was going to get another – more cheerful – movie. Unless,” she added, “you want to pick it out this time?”

“Well, I don’t want anyone bawling anymore, so maybe it’d be better if I  _did_  pick it out,” she joked, feeling relieved. Whatever was up with Kristoff, it had been obviously bothering him for a while, and trying to get him to admit what was wrong was like pulling teeth.When she’d tried before, all it had produced was a lot of awkward silences.

Elsa pressed a hand to her chest in mock indignation.

“I am offended. Are you insinuating that I couldn’t pick out a happy movie?”

“Well, you didn’t, did you?”

Her sister threw a pillow at her (and missed) before she headed over to the cabinet under the TV. Anna had just begun looking through the DVDs when she realized that Elsa and Kristoff were whispering to each other.

“You know that lying to her and giving her half-truths is never going to work out, right?”

“That’s great coming from you.”

“Exactly; I know what I’m talking about.”

“Remind me again why you think this would be a good idea?”

“Because even though you’re my employee, you’re also my friend. And Anna’s my sister, and I did a lot of unforgivable things to her, but she forgave me anyway. I need to make it up to both of you, and I also want both of you to be happy." 

"What makes you think she’s not happy with Westergard?”

“I’ve been paying attention, Kristoff.”

“So have I, but I haven’t noticed anything off.”

“That’s a lie and you know it. What kind of fiancé doesn’t even allow her to go out with her friends without her being reduced to sneaking around like a criminal?”

“Okay fine, but even if she’s  _not_  happy with him, what makes you think that she could possibly be happy with  _me?_ ”

Anna dropped the DVD she’d been holding.

“You okay over there?” Elsa called in her normal voice.

“Yeah,” Anna squeaked. “Just let me um…load this.”

“It better be something that I’ll like too,” Kristoff added.

“Alright then, Mr. Oh-So-Manly, just for that you’ll be getting the girliest movie I can find,” she teased ignoring a sudden wave of nausea and loading  _Valentine’s Day_  into the DVD player. Only after she did did it occur to her that this was probably not the smartest choice ever.

But besides that: what was she going to do?


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is rated M...and one of the reasons why is this chapter. Nothing more explicit than a R-rated movie, but consider yourselves duly warned.

As several ordinary days passed by, the implications of Kristoff’s words kept lingering in Anna’s mind.

 _He loves me. He loves me. He_ loves  _me._

Not that the idea of someone loving her in of itself was so bizarre. In her relatively short life, Anna had met plenty of people who’d told her that they loved her. With her relentless optimism and romanticism, she had believed them every time. 

But then again…where had  _that_ led her? Her parents had died, her exes had used her for sex and then turned their backs, Elsa had held back and hid secrets, and Hans… 

These days, at the thought of spending the rest of her life with him, Anna could never stop herself from feeling sick with apprehension. 

_Isn’t Kristoff different?_

Maybe he was. After all, she’d known him for months. Did she know enough to make a decision about him now? 

“Penny for your thoughts, darling." 

Anna snapped out of her trance. She’d been doing the dishes, and the hot steamy water had been cascading over her now-scalded hands long after the plate she’d been rinsing was already immaculate. She quickly drew her hands out of the faucet stream, turned it off, and put the plate on the drying rack before turning around to face Hans. 

"I…was just thinking,” she stammered, praying that her face wasn’t red and desperately trying to think of something to say, “well…I mean…the two of us’ve been engaged for more than five years now. When…do you intend for us to get married?”

 _A long time from now,_ she found herself praying.  _Please say a long time from now._

Looking up to face her, Hans set down his iPad and his brow screwed up in thought. 

“Good of you to ask that question now…you know,” he mused, “For a long time, I was worried that you would’ve asked before I was sure you were ready." 

"Ready for what?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer. 

He smiled, his green eyes as brilliant as bottle glass. 

“Ready to be truly mine at last. To finally become my wife." 

Anna swallowed down a surge of bile in her throat. 

"And do you think that I am?" 

"Stop talking,” he snapped. As usual, as swiftly as his face had crumpled, it fixated into a normal expression again. “Perhaps…yes,” he murmured. “Perhaps now I can finally tell the family dressmaker to start taking your measurements." 

Anna stood numbly with tears swimming in her eyes. Stupid, stupid. If she hadn’t opened her idiot mouth, then he wouldn’t have thought of it!   

"Oh darling,” he sympathized. “I’m excited for you to marry me as well; you needn’t make yourself look premenstrual by crying.”

 _There isn’t even anyone here to notice,_ Anna thought miserably and angrily as she wiped her eyes with her knuckles. “When do you plan to have the ceremony?" 

Hans quickly opened his calendar app and searched through his schedule.  

"I was already thinking about May,” he mused. “Maybe May the second? That’ll give us just enough time to prepare for it, if I can pull together the right people.”  

Anna had never been a genius at math, but she did some quick calculations in her head. It was already March the twenty-fourth. That gave her just five weeks and four days more of relative freedom before she was married to Hans.  

She’d better enjoy it.

 _If you hate the idea of being married to him so much, you could just try to escape him,_ suggested the bold little voice in her head that had always gotten her into trouble during high school. 

But how? When she only  _slightly_ displeased him, he was…well. Just look at how he’d reacted the night of the Bjorgmans’ Christmas party, to name just one of many examples.  

Oblivious to her inner thoughts, Hans put down his iPad and strode slowly over to her. A lazy smile had traced its way across his lips, and his hand wound around her shoulders. Pulling her close, his lips roughly brushed her skin. 

“And just imagine,” he whispered in her ear, “someday…maybe you and ours will finally let my brothers see how inadequate their own bitches of wives and whiny brats are." 

"I…” Anna had no idea how to respond to that. “I…I did always want kids."  

That was true, at least. 

Hans kissed her again. 

"That’s my love,” he purred. Then he pulled back and faced her again. “Now that we have the good news out of the way, I’m afraid I must tell you something else." 

"Yeah? What is it?" 

”‘Yeah’ is not a word, Anna. You are going to be a business executive’s wife; don’t speak in slang. Now anyway, as you already know, I have to leave for a business trip to New York City tomorrow. But unfortunately, I’m going to be gone a little bit longer than I’d previously thought: two weeks instead of just one.“ 

"Really?” She tried her best to sound disappointed, but it was hard. Maybe she and Elsa could go on that visit to the Lincoln Memorial again after all. 

“Yes.” Hans sighed. “Do you think you’ll be alright, being here for two weeks all by yourself?" 

"Yea–I mean, yes. I’ll be alright. Don’t worry." 

"I don’t think I’ll have to,” Hans murmured, stepping back and taking her in. “Now, for the fact that you’ll be alone for two weeks–" 

He swooped in again and kissed her violently, his teeth finding holds in her skin, his hands reaching for the button on her jeans. 

"No,” Anna blurted. 

Hans froze, his eyes narrowed. 

“'No?’” His voice was dangerously low. 

“I mean,” she hurriedly amended, the words spilling out of her mouth, “I’ve been especially busy lately. I’m so tired, I won’t have the energy to be able to please you. Let me save my strength for when you come back, so I’ll be especially capable then." 

Hans’ face morphed from a mask of fury, to one of surprise, to a long one of contemplation.  Anna swallowed hard. 

"You get off this time, Anna,” he finally decided. “But don’t think that you’ll be escaping my attention when I come back from New York." 

"Trust me. I don’t think that at all." 

"Good.” He cupped her chin in his hand, the lazy smile back on his lips. “You are a faithful little one. Never change, my wife-to-be." 

 

 

Anna was still in wonder of what she’d gotten away with even after she’d dropped her husband-to-be off at the airport the next day. She was also still wondering if suffering through Hans’ future attentions would be worth it. 

As she turned her Volkswagen away from Reagan National and back to the city, she decided that it would be. If only for that night and the next two weeks, her body was untouched by him. It was a petty victory considering that soon she would be his for the rest of her life, but it was a victory nonetheless. 

But as she parked her car in front of the apartment building and took out Sitron for his walk, she began to wonder something else: was that what her life was going to be like from then on? Silent and petty victories that only alternated with his regular treatment of her? 

"Some life,” she sighed. “Come on, boy." 

They made their way over to West Potomac Park, and she settled herself on a bench by the water before letting the dog off his leash. Sitron leaped free and started chasing squirrels around the trees, while Anna looked out towards the Washington Monument. 

"You know,” she mused to nobody in particular, “in remembrance of the guy that liberated the whole country, they really didn’t have to make a monument that was so  _phallic._ " 

If Elsa or even Kristoff were here, they would’ve rolled their eyes and tried not to laugh, she thought. If Hans were here, he probably would’ve scolded her for being disrespectful. 

At the thought of Hans, her borderline relaxation – even with an overcast sky and drizzly rain – evaporated again. 

_You made your choice._

_But it was a bad choice. Can I take it back and get a refund or something?_

_You don’t get those on people. Especially not temperamental ones._

Sitron came back from taking his frustrations out on the squirrels and rested his head on her lap. He gazed up at her curiously. 

Anna petted his head, while turning back to look at the Washington Monument again. She thought about the warmth of the interiors of the blue hybrid and the Arendelle’s delivery truck. She thought about trips to the movies just to boo the bad acting, jogging together around the Mall even though Elsa couldn’t jog to save her life, bringing library books to read at the botanical gardens, buying hot chocolate-chip scones at the Lucky Cat, both of them teasing Anna about how much Felicia from  _Valentine’s Day_ reminded them of her ("And not just because You-Know-Who plays her,”). Long talks, bad fights, love and friendship.  

Anna had long forgiven Elsa for even refusing to say now why she shut her sister out, because her sister really was her best friend again. And Kristoff… 

He was a kind, wonderful man under his gruff exterior, who just thinking about made her smile. She could live with the idea of him being in love with her. Just as the thought passed through her head, a pang shot through her heart.

_Just friends._

“Sitron, I can’t,” she moaned. “I may not like it, but I’m going to marry your master. I can’t be anything more than friends with Kristoff." 

Sitron whimpered. 

"But I…” Anna swallowed hard. “I think that  _I'm_ in love with him. Does that mean anything, coming from me?" 

The dog had no answer for her. He was still just a dog, after all. 

"I think,” Anna answered herself, “that I was wrong about love before." 

She  _had_ been wrong, so wrong. Before, when Elsa was acting cold and distant, Anna had thought that love meant attention, meant any man willing to tell her she was pretty, to let her screw him. When Hans came into the picture, he was a childhood fantasy had come true: a handsome, dashing man ready to sweep her off her feet and into a better life. He’d then twisted that fantasy into something dark, so that love was anything he did to her, as long as they were together, no matter how much it hurt her. 

Kristoff though, had taken those perceptions and kicked them like a football right out of the field. He proved that Pabbie had been right. Love was selfless. When had Kristoff not respected her wishes, backed off when she’d said no, constantly gone out of his way for her, even convinced himself that he would be wrong for her when he thought that she didn’t love him? 

Yes, he had problems. He was incredibly rude, overly blunt, easily frustrated and angered, had poor personal hygiene, and absolutely  _no_ taste in music. He wasn’t perfect. But the good outnumbered the bad by a long shot, and she loved him for all of it (except for maybe the music bit…seriously, who actually listened to Fall Out Boy and  _enjoyed_ it?). 

Anna got to her feet. 

"Sitron,” she said in an odd voice. “I’m taking you back to the apartment." 

He protested the whole way back, not used to having his playtime cut so short, but Anna gave him food, water, and a bone to placate him before digging out her phone.

_Hey. I need to come over and talk to you. What’s your address?_

He texted her back a street name and apartment number within a minute.

_Why do you want to know? Is something wrong?_

_Not really. I just need to tell you something._

_Something that you can’t tell me over phone or text? What’s so important?_

_You’ll see when I get there, Mr. Impatient._

_Fine, fine. See you soon._

_See you soon._

With trembling fingers, Anna dropped her phone back into her purse before grabbing her rain jacket again. 

 

 

Although his apartment building was only a few blocks from Elsa’s, it was obviously not as high-end as hers. It wasn’t poor, but it was certainly just average; probably populated by people who didn’t get paid much more than minimum wage. Arendelle’s paid all their workers quite well, but because Elsa detested favoritism, she could never give Kristoff any more what anyone else in the same position would get.

 _He doesn’t mind though,_ she thought as she walked over to the third apartment on the first floor and rang the doorbell.  

His voice rumbled from the other side of the door. 

"Anna?" 

"Yeah?" 

"One question before I let you in." 

"Oh come on…" 

"Why aren’t you at work?" 

"Oh. Well, Tiana has the flu, so the restaurant’s closed for the next few days. Why aren't  _you_ at work, now that I think about it?”   

“I finished all my deliveries early, so your sister let me go home." 

"Ah. Can I come in now?" 

Kristoff answered by opening the door. He was dressed in his usual uniform of jeans, huge work boots, and a flannel shirt; and also like usual, his eyes lit up when he saw her. 

"Hey there, feistypants. Come on in." 

”'Feistypants?’“ she queried as she wiped off her boots and hung up her jacket. 

"It’s my new nickname for you,” he explained. “What do you think?" 

"Still not good,” she decided, “but it’s a lot better than 'ginger,’ 'freckles,’ or 'Elsa’s annoying little sister.’" 

 "I never called you the last one." 

"Yes you did!" 

"If I did, it was before we were friends,” he proclaimed, sitting down on his worn sofa. 

Anna sat down next to him and took in the apartment. It was messy, with some dust, a few dishes that needed to be done, and laundry on the floor. But the walls were painted her favorite shade of green, the furniture was so soft she could’ve melted into it, and of course, Kristoff himself sitting next to her. 

“So…?" 

"So what?” she replied distractedly.  “What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

_Oh yeah._

She chewed her lip, twisting one of her braids around between her fingers. 

“It’s just…Kristoff, I’ve realized something about myself,” she blurted. 

“Yeah…?”

“Yeah, and it’s something to do with you – oh fuck it, Kristoff, I’m in love with you." 

Whatever he’d been expecting, it was clearly not  _that._ His mouth fell open, his eyes grew wide, his cheeks went crimson. He sucked in a ragged breath. 

"Are…” he stammered, “Anna…are you…I had no idea…how do you know…" 

"Know?” She shrugged. “I just know, I guess. It’s not like anything I’ve felt before, except maybe for my friends and family, and not even that, exactly. I dunno how to describe it; I’m no writer or anything. Not very talented at all; but I just  _know,_ Kristoff." 

"Don’t say you’re not talented,” he murmured, taking one of her tiny hands in his huge one.  

“Compared to Elsa I’m not. Compared to a lot of people I’m not." 

"But you’re not them. Damn it Anna, I fucking hate it when you say stuff like that about yourself. You’re…” Kristoff struggled for words for a few moments. “You're  _you,_ ” he finished, clearly unsatisfied with his own efforts. “And I love you too." 

Tears pricking in her eyes, she leaned in close to him and pressed her cheek to his chest. He smelled familiarly of sweat and fabric and engine oil, uniquely himself. 

"But what about Hans?" 

Reluctantly, Anna leaned away and sighed. 

"It’s complicated." 

"How so?" 

She stared down at the floor, scuffing the toes of her boots on the wood floor. 

"I…he’s got the wedding date now. As far as he’s concerned, we’re already married. If I leave him now…I don’t know how he’s going to react." 

”'Don’t know how he’s going to react?’“ Kristoff repeated. "Like how you weren’t sure how he was going to react to you hanging out with me, to you being with your sister again, to basically being out of his sight for five seconds, forcing you to sneak around?" 

Biting her lip even harder, Anna slowly nodded. 

"Does he abuse you?" 

Taken aback by the question, Anna burst into tears. 

A combination of sorrow and anger began forming in Kristoff’s eyes. 

"You know that you can have him arrested, thrown into jail and left to rot like the worthless son of a bitch he is…" 

"Later,” Anna blurted. “He’s gone right now, and he’s going to be gone for two weeks. When he comes back…let’s get Elsa’s best lawyers to kick his ass to kingdom come." 

"That’s my girl,” Kristoff murmured, wrapping his arms around her. She sighed in satisfaction and nestled down comfortably against him. 

They lay like that for a few minutes – maybe more, neither was sure. Anna had had no idea how relieving telling the truth could be.  

Back when she started middle school, she’d had a lot more homework than she’d expected, and had to carry her backpack full of textbooks and notebooks back and forth down the hallways every day. Over the first week, her muscles had been screaming in protest the whole time, but over about a month, she’d gotten used to it. It wasn’t until winter break that she’d been able to finally put down her heavy backpack for a glorious three weeks, and she’d realized just how heavy that thing was and how much of a relief it was to have it off her back. Having the truth out – about both men – was like finally putting down that heavy backpack. 

Anna grinned against Kristoff’s chest.

_Well well. Am I finally getting good at metaphors? Who would’ve guessed?_

“Whatcha thinking about, feistypants?" 

"How nice it is to tell the truth. From now on, I’m telling the truth about everything. Your hair looks great, Sven needs to buy clothes that fit, I miss my old neighbors and friends from high school, I wish I had D-cups, and I actually really like it when you call me 'feistypants.’" 

"And I’ll tell  _you_ the truth about everything: my cable reception here sucks, Elsa’s shoes all look like torture devices, and your body looks amazing the way it is." 

Impulsively, she reached up and took his chin in her hand before pulling him down to kiss her. He sighed against her lips before kissing her back. When they broke apart, she said, "How would you know? You’ve never seen all of it.”

_Holy shit, did I just say that out loud!? I haven’t been this upfront in more than five years!_

Kristoff gaped at her. “Anna, you don’t…want to wait two weeks?" 

Her heart hit the floor. 

"Do you not want me?" 

He kissed her again, less gentle, more passionate. A rush of heat flowed down from her chest and anchored her to her seat. 

"I’ve wanted you for weeks,” he growled into her ear. More arousal flushed through her. “You have no idea how goddamn  _frustrating_ it was, seeing you every day, and thinking that you’d never want me back." 

Anna pulled herself closer to him eagerly in response. 

"But,” he continued in his normal voice, “I don’t want your bastard fiancé to take it out on you if he finds out somehow." 

She wanted to cry again, this time with joy. He was willing to wait for sex, just to protect her from his idea of Hans’ vengeance. How had she gotten so lucky to fall in love with  _this_ man? 

"You know I’m pretty much screwed anyway if he finds out about just  _this._ Besides…” She took his hand and guided it to the swell of her breasts. “You shouldn’t have to, and I don’t want you to, wait for something you want."  

He still hesitated, even though Anna could feel a certain pressure that she knew all too well pushing up against her thigh. 

"Do you want me too?" 

Before responding, she reached up to hold his face in both hands and kissed him as hard as she could.    

"More than anything." 

That finally convinced him. Swifter than she would’ve guessed, he took her by the shoulders and lay her back on the couch, kissing her fiercely.  

His hands slipped under the hem of her shirt and glided across the flat plane of her belly, making her gasp and twitch.  

In swift response, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head and –  _ohhhh,_ my God. 

His bare torso was amazingly well sculpted, all hard flat muscles outlined by tan skin. A few scars laced his body (later she would ask about those), but that did absolutely nothing to take away from how incredible he looked. 

"Kristoff, you’re–” She was cut off with a squeak when his hands found her breasts, gently rubbing and massaging them through the flimsy material of her bra.  

“Anna,” he growled against her lips.  

“Bedroom,” she hissed in reply. “First time not…on a fucking couch." 

With an insatiable grin that only shot more heat through her body, he scooped her up and carried her bridal-style down the hallway and into his room. She didn’t even have time to glance around the room before he laid her down gently on his bed and started kissing her again.   

Faster than she could realize or remember, both of them had shed their outer layers of clothing and were pressed together, hands wandering everywhere, lips locked, eyes wide. She could pinpoint every freckle on his cheeks, every strand of golden hair, the exact spot where his five-o-clock shadow began and ended. 

His touch warmed her. Every time his fingers would so much as brush her, his lips stretched into a smile against her skin, her love and arousal only grew. 

"Remember,” he panted, “when I told you…never to tell any future girlfriends I might have –  _shit!_ – that I was a virgin?" 

"I don’t think that they –  _ohmyfuckinggodYES_ – would believe it,” she gasped. 

With a laugh, he tangled his fingers in her hair and brought them even closer together. That  _is why they call it making love,_ she would think later.  _What I’ve been chasing after my whole life…I finally found it without even looking._

It was nothing like she’d ever felt before, she, the “experienced” one. Who would’ve known…the dancer girl from The Court of Miracles had been right after all as well.  

Anna couldn’t say when it ended. All she knew was that after it did, she and Kristoff were lying next to each other, hands interlocked, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes and goofy grins on their faces. It was a while before either one of them spoke. 

“ _Completely_ worth waiting almost twenty-seven years for,” Kristoff finally declared. 

Anna giggled. 

“You are such a dork." 

"Hey,” he protested, “you like it." 

"Of course I do." 

She snuggled over closer to him and relaxed, watching the night start to grow dark and the city start to light up outside his bedroom window. Where had the day gone? It couldn’t have been later than seven or eight, could it?  

Yet her body had become warm and limp, even better than after a good long run, and her eyelids were growing heavy. 

"Sleepy,” Anna murmured. 

“Me too,” Kristoff agreed with a huge yawn that could’ve scared a T-rex. “Is… _hmmm_ …that normal?" 

"I dunno.” Her eyelids were definitely starting to droop. 

“Hmmm.” His own fluttered. “Well…as long as you’re okay…and happy…I’ll just…maybe take a quick nap…" 

His head fell back against his pillow and he began to snore. 

Anna giggled again, softer, and rested her head against his bare chest. The warmth radiating from his and her own body lulled her, and soon she fell into a blissfully peaceful and untroubled sleep.


	10. Chapter 9

Anna woke up the next morning to loud snoring. Her mind foggy with sleep, she took a while to work out why that was.

 _Urgh, what the hell? Hans doesn’t snore like that. I don’t even think_  Elsa  _snores like that. What the actual–?_

She tried to roll away from the noise, and in the process accidentally kicked someone else’s leg. A very big, muscular leg.

Anna sat up.

_Oh my God. Did I seriously just have sex with my friend last night!?_

She looked over at the opposite pillow just to be certain she hadn’t dreamed it. Sure enough, Kristoff lay right next to where she’d been, his blond hair a tousled mess, his arms thrown out to the side, snoring loudly enough to put a jackhammer to shame. Even looking at him like this put butterflies in her stomach again.

 _Well Anna, you’ve done a lot of dumbass things in your life, but I’m pretty sure that this takes the freaking dumbass_  cake.

But even considering that, even considering that Hans would be beyond enraged if he ever found out, she didn’t regret it.

She looked down at her naked body, wondering if maybe she should shower. Then she tentatively sniffed herself.

_Yep. Definitely need a shower._

Even if she didn’t have to work today, it still probably wasn’t a good idea to walk around all day smelling like sweat, strange man, and bodily fluids.  _One_  time doing that had been quite enough, thank you.

Stretching her arms over her head and yawning, she stepped out of the bed. The previous night, she’d been a little…occupied, so she hadn’t really had the opportunity to notice Kristoff’s room. It was smaller than her own austere bedroom back at the apartment, but slightly better decorated. Posters of the weird indie and rock bands he liked decorated the walls. On his dresser, there were several framed photos of his family, Elsa (mostly looking busy with something), and Sven (mostly making stupid faces at the camera). Several fantasy novels rested on his chest of drawers. In the corner of the room lay a beat-up-looking acoustic guitar.

Anna smiled. So he hadn’t been lying about being able to play the guitar, after all.

Afterwards, it didn’t take her long to find the bathroom, and although she had to rinse the soap off for about a minute to get all the hair off it, she managed to get herself cleaned up pretty well. 

 Once she did, she headed back into the bedroom. Kristoff was still dead to the world, not that she could really blame him.

This didn’t stop her from poking him hard in the ribs.

“Kristoff. Kristoff. Wake up.”

He groaned into his pillow.

“Kristoff, you big lump. Get up already.”

“Ten more minutes, Mom,” he mumbled. “G'me ten more minutes.”

“Well, excuse  _you,_  Rip Van Winkle. Guess who’s never seeing my old lady body naked ever again.”

His eyes flew open and he rolled back over onto his back, his cheeks on fire. “Sorry Anna. But by the way…” A grin started to make its way across his face. “You’re  _still_  naked now and standing right over me. It’s a very nice view.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere in life and nowhere with me,” Anna replied briskly, even as her own cheeks pinkened. 

 "Yeah sure. Hey uh, by the way, just to be sure, you said you were on contraception, right?“

"Yeah, been taking the pill since I was sixteen; I told you already. We’re all good here.”

She took his hand and pulled him to his feet, until they were nearly nose-to-nose. His beautiful brown eyes were only a few inches from her own, and she suddenly became very aware of the fact that they were both still naked. It suddenly became much warmer in the little bedroom.

His hands reached up and traced the outline of her lips, and she stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss him…

When the loud buzz of a text signal interrupted them.

“Aw shit!” they yelled in unison.

“Couldn’t you ignore it?” Anna whined.

“Probably not,” Kristoff grumbled in reply as he walked back over and scooped up his phone. Anna sat down on the bed and attempted to satisfy herself by looking at him while he checked his text messages.

“New text from Sven…but wait, I missed two from Elsa  _hours_  ago. Aw fuck, I had to be at work! She’s probably ready to kill me!”

“What did she say?” Anna asked.

“Uh… _Kristoff, what the everloving FUCK. You should’ve been at work half an hour ago! I swear to God, if you overslept_  – well, that was  _not_  my fault –”

“Hey!”

“– _if you overslept, I am going to tell your mother that you threw out that cake she made for your last birthday._ Fuck it, Elsa, why would you even  _threaten_ that!? Why can’t you threaten to dock my pay like a normal boss!?”

“Probably because she’s your friend too, and a huge stinker,” Anna replied with a snicker.

“Well that’s true. And her second message goes:  _That’s it. You should’ve been here an hour and a half ago and you’re NEVER late and you’re not responding to my text. I’m making your brother take a break from school so he can go make sure you’re not dead._  WHAT!?  _And you’d better be dead, because he’s_ really  _not going to be happy about this._  Well, now we’re both screwed.”

“Well, uh…what did he say?”

“Lemme see… _Kris, I am super pissed at you. Prepare to face my wrath, because I just arrived at your building. Be ready to die…oh, about now._ ”

The doorbell rang.

Although both of them were expecting this, they both leapt about a foot in the air at it.

“Clothing!” Anna blurted.

“Right! Yes! Clothing!”

Kristoff quickly fumbled on a pair of boxers, while Anna grabbed her panties and the flannel shirt that Kristoff had been wearing the previous night.

The doorbell rang again, more insistently this time.

Suddenly and inexplicably terrified, Anna dove under the bedcovers while Kristoff ran for the door. Although she couldn’t see anything, she could still hearKristoff’s voice surprisingly well, as well as the silence that indicated when his brother was talking.

“Hi Sven. I just overslept, that’s all. No, I did not ask her to get you from your classes; what kind of brother do you think I am? Thank you, that’s very flattering. I  _sleep_  in my boxers, dumbass. Yes, I  _do;_  you just don’t see because you don’t normally have sleepovers at my house anymore. What the hell, Sven? I do  _not_  have a girl over! I wouldn’t do that to you guys! What? No! Stay away from my bedroom!”

Too late, Anna heard Sven’s footfall heading over and realized what was happening. Then the blankets got yanked off of her.

Sven was so shocked, he stumbled backwards into the doorframe. Anna peeked up at the two men from the bed and waved uncharacteristically shyly.

“Hi.”

Sven got back to his feet and just gaped at her for a few moments. Then he thrust his fists in the air and whooped loudly.

“Nice to see you too,” she grinned, her fear and shyness melting away.

It might’ve been hard to jump up and down in place excitedly as well as speak in sign language. Sven Bjorgman made it work.

 _I knew it! I knew it! I fucking knew it! You two were made for each other! You know, cause she’s tons of fun and you’re no fun at all. She_  completes  _you._

“Hey.”

_And now she’s here and you guys are an item now! This is totally worth getting pulled away from classes for!_

Anna sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

“Sorry to correct you Sven,” she said, “But there are a few things that need to be worked out before he and I can be an item. Believe me, I don’t like it either.”

Sven scowled irritatedly at this, before he realized.

_Wait. You can understand me now?_

Anna grinned.

“Starting around New Year’s, I started teaching myself sign language from the Internet. You can learn _anything_  from the Internet. Surprise!”

Kristoff laughed, loudly and robustly. Sven tackle-hugged Anna. When he let go, he said,

_Thank you! Although I’m still not sure I can forgive you for not immediately becoming Kristoff’s girlfriend._

“I’m not sure I can forgive myself, either,” she admitted.

“Give her a break,” Kristoff interrupted. “She’s doing the best she can. And to change the subject to something less pleasant, I seriously gotta get to work now.”

“Aw, really?”

“Do you want to ever find my remains once your sister gets to me?”

“Well, go on. Hurry up and get your all your work stuff done. And try not to forget about me.”

“I love you too, Little Miss Bossy.”

On that note, they kissed goodbye. It was clearly all Sven could do not to start squealing.

 

 

Once Kristoff put more clothes on and went off to work and Sven went back to school, Anna curled up in Kristoff’s bed and starting reading one of his books. She didn’t look up from it until about an hour later; when her “Shake It Off” ringtone started playing from her discarded jeans.

She climbed out of the bed and dug out the phone.

“‘Lo?" 

 "Anna, it’s your sister.”

“Hey sis. Why are you calling from work? Is something up?”

“Yes,” Elsa deadpanned. “Last night apparently, it was a body part of one of my employees.”

Anna started at the innuendo.

“Oh my God, he  _told_ you!?”

“Well in his defense, he didn’t have a choice.”

She buried her face in her hand, her cheeks burning.

“Why Elsa. Why would you ask that. Why would you.”

“He was late for work, and I’m still his boss. I wanted to know what was going on. Besides, Sven had just sent me a very smug text telling me to be sure to ask Kristoff exactly  _what_ he’d been doing last night and with whom." 

 "I am going to  _kill_  Sven.”

“Why are you so embarrassed?” Elsa asked. “First of all, everybody was getting sick of the sexual tension between you two anyway. Second of all, you started off as friends and you’re really good for each other. Third of all…I’ve been suspecting for a long time that there’s something wrong with your relationship with Hans. Kristoff didn’t tell me anything about that,” she added quickly, “But to be perfectly honest, he didn’t  _have_  to tell me anything.”

Anna sighed, the weight settling down on her shoulders again. She slumped back into the soft mound of pillows. “You’re right,” she admitted. “There is. Lots of things have been wrong, ever since he first proposed. The only reason I was able to see Kristoff at all is because Hans is in New York right now. But…ugh. He’s finally got the wedding date now.”

“What, so he can have a hold on you for the rest of your life?” Elsa sounded disgusted. “I can’t believe that asshole had the nerve to treat you like that. Are you sure that he’s not going to find out about your night of fun? Because I’m worried about what he might do to you if he does.”

“Frankly?” Anna confessed. “I don’t know. He was angry enough with me when I came back from the Bjorgmans’ party in December.”

“From a  _Christmas party?_ ” Elsa was outraged. “What the fuck does he think is wrong with that?”

“He was mad because I snuck out. And because he guessed – accurately – that there was a guy at the party.”

“Son of a fucking  _bitch._ ”

“How do you think I feel?” Anna asked bitterly. 

“Hang on one second.” There was the soft sound of the phone being laid down, before there was a loud _thump_  and a noise like something shattering. A loud stream of profanities were shouted in the background. Finally, Elsa picked up the phone again.

“Is there anything I’ll be able to do for you? You know…to Hans?”

“Well, nothing right this instant. Not till he comes back from New York in two weeks. But you know what I’d like?”

“Anything.”

“To think about something else right now.”

“Sure. I’ll have you know that your furry little boy toy just successfully dropped off a delivery of Rocky Fjord to a grocery store.”

Anna glared at her phone receiver. 

 "There are exactly three things wrong with that statement. He is not little in any way shape or form, not a boy toy, and uh…not  _that_  furry.“

"Interesting.” Anna could practically hear the grin in her sister’s voice. “I wonder…what other lovely details did he withhold from me during our chat?”

Anna scowled for a moment, before smirking.

“You’re going to regret asking that, dear sister.”

 _Let me think about Hans when I actually have to worry about him,_  she thought to herself.  _For now…let me enjoy myself._

 

 

Enjoy herself she did. While Tiana was still sick, she went back to Hans’ empty apartment only twice: once to get Sitron and his food and toys, and the other time to get some clothing and her toiletries. Elsa volunteered to watch the dog, and Anna temporarily moved in with Kristoff. 

 Of course, even now, they were still friends. After they came home from work and had welcome-home sex wherever was closest, they would still sit and talk for a long time. Or snuggle on the couch and watch TV. Or go out to a museum or a restaurant, in which case Elsa would come along. Although she rather ruined the romantic mood by either teasing them mercilessly or constantly telling them to get a room.

Anna got used remarkably swiftly to this life. Within a couple days, she was already used to waking up to someone next to her who would kiss her and tell her she was beautiful even with her stupid bedhead. To their regular playful banter put under  _very_  different circumstances. To have someone else cooking and helping with the cleaning (what little they actually did) instead of having to do it all herself. 

 Unfortunately, they still had to keep it a secret. It was frustrating, not being able to tell anyone or even be affectionate in public (whatever Elsa might have said). 

 But they could keep a secret! And anyway, it was only for two weeks. Any fool could keep a secret for that long.

 

 

“Anna!”

“Yeah?”

“You got table six; I’m taking the journalist.”

_Aw, lucky._

Roxanne, being a busy reporter, didn’t get her meals at restaurants very often. But at least she was polite and friendly to waitstaff, and always had uncomplicated orders. Table six had an unfamiliar, glamorous-looking woman with a cool expression that made Anna nervous. It was always hard to tell with glamorous people. They were always either polite yet impersonal, or unbelievably rude.

“Alright, I’m on it.”

Anna scooped up her notebook and tray and headed over, smiling.

“Hello, my name is Anna, and I’ll be s–”

“I know what you’ll be doing,” the woman replied impatiently. “Why do you think I’m here?”

_Okay, I’m gonna go with the second option with this lady._

The glamorous woman sighed, and pointed at her menu. She was maybe in her late twenties, with long wavy black hair and violet eyes. She wore a white dress that draped elegantly around her skinny figure, sandal heels, and a golden seashell-shaped necklace. She would’ve been pretty, if not for the sour expression on her face.

“It says here that this is  _seafood_  jambalaya.”

“Uh, yeah…?”

“I don’t eat seafood.”

Anna internally groaned. It was going to be one of  _those_  arguments.

“Well then, don’t order it then,” she suggested. “Our specialty today is–”

“No no,” the glamorous woman interrupted, waving around her manicured hand. “I want the jambalaya. I just don’t want it with seafood.”

“Umm…it kinda  _has_  to have seafood. That’s the whole point of the jambalaya. Do you want me to fix the entire recipe for one person?”

“Rude,” she snapped. “I’ll be speaking to the owner of this restaurant! Where is the owner?" 

 "I am the owner,” Tiana declared, appearing out of thin air in her work jeans and stained apron. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes,” the glamorous woman huffed. “Your waitress tells me that I can’t have seafood jambalaya without seafood!”

Tiana shot Anna a sympathetic glance before saying,

“Alright now. Don’t go blaming Anna for the fact that you  _can’t_  have seafood jambalaya without seafood; and if that fact bothers you, you can either order something else, or you can go have lunch somewhere else. Your choice.”

The woman looked for a moment like she wanted to say something else, but eventually just settled for giving Anna a poisonous look and deciding,

“Fine. Then I’ll have the Creole fried rice and a black coffee.”

“Black like her soul,” Anna muttered under her breath as she walked away.

“I’ll just get her the damn food, and then she’s out of our hair,” Tiana promised, walking back into the kitchen. “Naveen! Numbers eighty-nine and oh-nine,  _posthac!_ " 

Anna was about to head off to a different table when her cell phone buzzed.

"Oh, who’s texting me now?” she muttered, digging the phone out of her back pocket. “Son of a…oh my God, what a couple of  _idiots._ ”

Tiana peered out the window at her employee, but Anna was too busy grinning at her phone to notice.

_You’ll never guess who just arrived to tell me that he passed his exams…in his pajamas._

As if she couldn’t guess, Kristoff had included a picture: a selfie shot of the two men; with Kristoff rolling his eyes and Sven grinning at the camera. His pajamas weren’t  _too_  embarrassing…plaid flannel bottoms and an oversized gray T-shirt. His hair was all messed up, and his arm was looped around his brother’s shoulders.

Anna swiftly texted them back:

_Next time, you nutcases, don’t text me in the middle of lunch hour. JK, go ahead and text me pj pictures whenever you want._

“Why are you messing around on your phone when you should be working?” Tiana asked. 

 Anna leaped about a foot in the air. 

“Oh, uh, no reason! Just a couple of friends of mine are being silly.”

“Let me see that.”

Anna shrugged and handed over the phone. Tiana examined the screen as if it were a variable in a science experiment.

“You see? Totally innocent. Nothing except for a couple of friends, being platonic together–”

The phone buzzed. Tiana squinted at the screen, and her eyebrows nearly shot into her hairline.

“Well well well.”

“Oh God.”

The phone buzzed again, almost frantically, and Tiana burst out laughing.

“What did they say?”

“See for yourself.”

Anna grabbed the phone, and moaned out loud. The first text read:

 _Are those the_  only  _kind of pictures that you two send each other?_

The second one, which was obviously from Kristoff, read:

_Please ignore my brother, who has never been happier in his life. I think that my getting even a sort-of girlfriend caused the most joy seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall._

Anna looked at her boss.

“I can explain.”

“Don’t explain to me, try explaining to your fiancé.”

“I wish I didn’t have to,” Anna sighed. “If it were a normal relationship, I could’ve broken up with him years ago.”

“'Could’ve?’ Were you not allowed to?”

“Something like that.” The disdain melted off Tiana’s face, to be replaced with concern.

“My God, Anna, you know you could’ve  _told_  me something.”

“I was scared,” Anna admitted. “But when he comes back from his business trip tomorrow, well, I’m not going to be scared again.”

Tiana nodded proudly.

“You’re a brave girl, Anna. Hope your new boyfriend is much better.”

“Oh he is,” Anna grinned. “In pretty much every aspect possible.”

“Such as?”

“Six foot four inches, seven inches.”

The older woman’s eyes grew wide, then she slapped her hand against the wall and hooted with mirth.

“What is so funny?” Naveen called.

“Nothing!” both women shouted in unison.

“But in all seriousness,” Anna added once they stopped laughing, “he’s kind, selfless, considerate, and most importantly, he loves me a lot. For real this time.”

If either of them had been paying attention, they would’ve noticed the woman at table six listening to them with her phone out, recording the conversation. But they weren’t, so they didn’t notice.

“Well Anna, I wish you both the best of luck. But get back to work!”

“Yes sir ma'am!” Anna yelped, snapping back into action.

 

 

As the sun began to disappear, Anna drove the by-then familiar way towards Kristoff’s apartment, trying to savor it as best she could. This would be their last night together for probably a while, and she was going to miss him.

The radio was not helping.

_“When the daylight comes, I’ll have to go, but tonight I’m gonna hold you so close…”_

“Oh shut up, Adam,” she muttered, hitting the OFF button. 

 But when she pulled up in front of the apartment building, her melancholy began to fade away. Even though she was going to miss him…they  _did_  still have the rest of the night.

Kristoff was waiting for her when she came in, which meant he was making dinner. The pleasant smells of cooking meat and hot tomato sauce had already permeated through the apartment. Almost the second she stepped through the door, he looked up and smiled at her.

“Evening, feistypants.”

“Hey,” she greeted. “Spaghetti for dinner?”

“Uh huh.”

“Are you at a place where you can take a break?”

“Funny,” he mused, wiping one hand off on his pants and undoing his belt buckle with the other. “Just before you walked in, I was thinking that now would be a  _perfect_  time to take a break.”

 

 

They nearly let the pasta water boil over, but not quite. Over dinner (which was, as always, delicious), Anna made lively chatter and encouraged Kristoff to talk about his day.

“And then,” he continued, “The guy looked at me and said, 'Bjorgman, I don’t care what this paper says, I specifically ordered it with extra chocolate chips.  _Extra._ ’ Even though he’d  _specifically_  said over the phone that he wanted the regular version.”

Anna laughed. “And I can imagine that you handled it in your usual diplomatic fashion.”

“Hey, when you’re pissed off, you’re pissed off. Besides, at least he stopped arguing with me.”

“At the price of Elsa kicking your ass later?”

“To be honest, it’s kind of amazing she hasn’t fired me yet.”

“Yeah, it’s the same thing with me and Tiana.” Anna wiped her bowl with a piece of bread to get the last bits of sauce. “But still, yelling at people isn’t going to make them agree with you. If I’m Feistypants, you must be Grumpypants.”

“Well, fine. Maybe you could come with me on one of your days off, and then we’ll see if  _you_  can handle annoying restaurant managers any better.”

“You know…I’d actually – seriously – like that. Maybe someday, after my relationship mess is over.”

There was a few moments of silence, which Anna broke a bit awkwardly.

“I’ll, uh, get the dishes.”

“Thanks.”

Her cheeks heating up, she grabbed the bowls and forks and headed over to the sink. Scrubbing furiously, she didn’t notice when he came up behind her until his chin was resting on the top of her head. 

She stopped scrubbing and looked up.

“Why are you so tall?”

“Why are  _you_  so short?”

She elbowed him as best she could with his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

Kristoff chuckled softly.

“I’m gonna miss you, feistypants.”

“Hey.” Anna stretched one arm up and touched his cheek. “It’ll work out. I’ll see you again.”

“How are you so certain?”

“I just think that in life, there’s not much point in being pessimistic; despite what you and my sister seem to believe.”

“Hmmm.” Kristoff hugged her a little tighter. “Well, I hope you’re right.”

“Me too. Now, do you want me to finish the dishes, or do you want to take another 'break?’”

“Is that a trick question?”

 

 

Anna lay in bed next to him late at night, watching the moon over the city skyline. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve already fallen asleep, even with her boyfriend’s tendency to snore loudly. But she was savoring her surroundings: the warmth emanating from Kristoff’s side of the bed; the full, satisfied, post-lovemaking sleepiness; the general feeling of peace. 

 And why not? Up to this point, all had been right in the world. She had Elsa back, and they were closer than ever. Her job was steady, and she was friends with her coworkers. And of course…

Anna sighed deeply, and snuggled up a little closer to him. But the thought of the next day snuck its way into her mind again, and her worries came back with it.

Despite her brave words, she was still flinching at the very thought of Hans coming back. How was she going to endure seeing him again, let alone finding the impossible courage to leave him? How was she going to be able to testify against him in court?

Sudden enough to startle her out of her thoughts, Kristoff snored particularly loudly before grumbling something unintelligible in his sleep.

Anna smiled, and her worries faded. She lay her head down on his chest and closed her eyes, letting sleep finally take her.


	11. Chapter 10

The next morning dawned even earlier than usual. Not only did both Anna and Kristoff have to go to work, but Anna had to drop her stuff off at Hans’ apartment. Elsa had promised to drop off Sitron at her lunch break. Anna wasn’t sure if this entailed bringing the dog over to the factory or not, but she’d decided not to ask. 

 Breakfast was quiet. Kristoff hadn’t really been in the mood to cook anything, and Anna couldn’t blame him. So they ate cereal instead and focused most of their attention on their coffee. 

 But inevitably, Anna couldn’t take it.

“Damn it Kristoff, why are we being like this? It’s too damn cliched. We’re not going to be parted from each other forever, so why are we acting like this? We need to stop being stupid.”

He looked up from his cornflakes and smiled faintly.

“Keep doing that.”

“What?”

“Being absurdly optimistic.”

“Well,” she huffed, stirring her spoon in her Froot Loops, “of course I will. It sure beats being a big downer like you.”

“Yeah, go on and insult me. That’s so romantic.”

“Since when have you cared about romantic?”

“Touché. But this is still coming from the girl whose idea of a fun evening together involves seeing how many marshmallows each of us can stuff in our cheeks.”

“I totally won that, by the way.”

“You spit marshmallow all over my couch.”

“I did not!" 

 Kristoff grinned.

"You see what I mean? Be exactly like that.”

Anna blushed. “Exactly like that” involved a lot of klutziness, sticking her foot in her mouth, and that time in fifth grade when her neighbor’s kid Olaf had dared her to hold a newt in her mouth for thirty seconds and she’d accidentally swallowed it.

But then again: Kristoff’s “exactly like that” involved yelling at people who he was trying to bargain with, being extremely bad with words, and that time when they’d gone out in  _public_  and the girls had caught him picking his nose and eating it. Elsa’s involved constantly forgetting to do her laundry, keeping a lot of secrets, and the time when she’d drawn a mustache on their dad’s face while he was sleeping. So why should she feel embarrassed or ashamed?

“Well…thanks. I, um, can’t wait to see you again after this, but I, sadly gotta go in–” She pulled out her phone and checked the time. “Holy shit, right now!”

“Gotcha covered.” He grabbed her suitcase full of shampoo and dirty laundry off the couch and passed it to her. His hands brushed hers as he handed over the suitcase, and she had a weird memory of the grocery store where they’d first met and gotten into a fight about carrots. 

She set down her suitcase and hugged him as tightly as she could, sniffling. 

“Aw, feistypants, don’t tell me you’re getting sad. You’re supposed to be the optimistic one.” He was trying to joke, but she could hear the shakiness in his voice. 

 "I’m gonna miss you,“ she admitted. 

"Yeah.” His arms wrapped around her shoulders. “I know it’s not going to be for too long, I mean, that’s how it’s supposed to go. But I’ve gotten used to your snoring and your taste in TV shows. Now you’ve gotten me hooked on  _Parks and Recreation._ ”

“Well, you’re one to talk. I caught myself humming ‘I Will Wait’ in the shower yesterday. You’ve corrupted me with your weird music.”

“My evil plan is complete.” Kristoff kissed her forehead. “See you soon. I’ll be listening to Taylor Swift while I do wait.”

Anna stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. “Good. My evil plan is complete too.”

 

 

Work was painfully awkward. Tiana kept shooting her worried looks the whole time and mincing her vegetables with far too much force. All the rest of the staff kept picking up on their boss’s mood, even if they didn’t know what was going on. By lunchtime, the entire restaurant was full of nervous wrecks who jumped a foot in the air if someone asked for a glass of water. 

 But it still went by far too quickly. 

When her dinner shift finally ended, Anna left the restaurant constantly twisting her hair and gnawing on her lip hard enough to draw blood. Driving back, her hands squeezed the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. 

 _Be brave,_  she kept telling herself.  _You can do this._

But her lip was streaming blood by the time she actually made it into the apartment. She took a deep breath and unlocked the door. The first thing she did upon entering was sneeze, before shivering violently. She hadn’t been back to dust in two weeks, and it showed. She’d also forgotten how cold it was in there. But everything else seemed to be okay. Sitron was sprawled in the middle of the living room floor, happily gnawing on a new bone that was obviously a gift from the Frosts. The stark emptiness was still untouched. Most importantly, Hans wasn’t back yet. Not that that did anything to help Anna’s nerves.

She headed into the shared bedroom and starting getting her belongings. She dumped all the things that she didn’t want on the floor (which was a surprisingly large number) and grabbed the rest of her toiletries, favorite clothing, and her Christmas presents from the hall closet. Her heart pounding, she zipped up her suitcase and stowed it under the living room couch. 

So everything was ready to go except for her. 

Twisting her hair with enough force to break it, she sat down on the couch and tried to watch TV. Some of her favorite shows were playing, and they were an okay distraction. Sitron must’ve sensed that something was up, because he came over and jumped up on the couch next to her. 

_Just like the old days, huh boy?_

Feeling a little guilty for knowing that she had to leave the dog behind, she started scratching him behind the ears and did her best to relax.

Anna had completely lost track of what sitcom she was watching when she finally heard the key in the lock. Sitron’s ears perked up, and he leaped off the couch and ran over.

Hans strode through the door with his luggage, casually shoving the dog away with one leg as he walked in. He was oddly quiet as he took his suitcases into the bedroom, not even mentioning the mess on the floor, the thin layer of dust everywhere, or the fact that she hadn’t started making dinner yet. Maybe that should’ve relieved her, but it only made her wonder what was going on.

“Hans?” she asked. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

Something cold flashed in his eyes. Anna shivered.

“Why would there be something wrong?” His voice was flat and emotionless. He could’ve been reading off a cue card. “There’s nothing wrong.”

“Oh. You just…hadn’t said anything yet.”

_Or even tried to kiss or force sex on me._

“Don’t worry darling,” he replied in that same flat voice. “A man simply would not want his  _wife_ -to-be…to concern herself with things that don’t matter." 

 Anna gulped when he put that odd inflection on  _wife._  

"So I must say, Anna…I confess myself…disappointed." 

"H-how – uh, how so?”

“You  _have_  been concerning yourself with things that don’t matter.”

Her knees had turned to jelly and her heart was racing, but she still forced a laugh.

“Really Hans? After everything you’ve been drilling into my head for five years? After all the  _wisdom_ you’ve forced on me, you think I’d be interested in stuff that doesn’t matter? What kind of idiot do you think I am?”

“A idiot who is also a whore,” he replied, disgust finally coloring his tone. “I already knew it was part of who you were, but I hoped I might be able to force it out of you. I suppose I was wrong. You’re nothing but a worthless  _slut._ " 

 All of her confidence crumbled, and tears swam in Anna’s eyes.

_He knows. Oh God, how could he have found out?_

As if he could read her mind, Hans continued ruthlessly,

"And I have a friend who recorded your little confession to your boss, so don’t bother denying it.”

“I wasn’t going to,” she whispered.

“So.” He strode over to her in the lazy way a tiger stalks a baby deer. “Your paramour thinks you’re worth the world? Did he tell you you were special, Anna? That he–” He grabbed her arms and deftly twisted them behind her back, with audible  _pops_  as the joints dislocated. Anna was too shocked to cry. “– _looooves_  you? That you’re  _worth_  loving and treasuring?”

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Then he’s even more of an idiot than you.”

He let go of her arms and let her fall to the floor. Unable to catch herself, she hit the floor face first and her nose went  _crunch._  Blood stained the expensive carpet.

“You broke my heart, Anna. I gave you everything you ever wanted, and this is how you repay me? With lies and betrayal like your sister? I met her only a few times you know, but that was enough to show that she was the most frigid bitch I’ve ever been unfortunate enough to meet. Quite the opposite of you, in some ways: her thighs might as well have been glued together, where yours are wider than the banks of the Potomac.”

“She’s  _married,_ ” Anna croaked.

“Not when I met her.”

“But…” Anna’s head was swimming with pain. “She…she told me she’d never met you.”

“Yes.” Hans looked down at her with almost pity in his face. “And that’s what you two have in common. Not only are you worthless bitches, but you’re liars. You think I didn’t know about your little excursions, even before you started fucking the truck driver? I had hoped that you could be a loyal wife someday, but you let me down.”

From her position on the floor, she watched as he turned around and headed into the bedroom, and got out the suitcases he’d brought to New York. The he reached into the very back of his closet and got out his biggest trunk.

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving,” he announced. “And you’re coming with me.”

Anna tried to sit up, but her shoulders screamed in protest.

“What?”

“You heard me. I’m only taking important things…well, you’re the exception to that rule, but a businessman has an image to maintain. A wife, a dog, maybe some children later…it makes me seem much more likable. More likely to have others working with me. Anyway, my idiot brothers agreed that I can continue working with The Southern Isles from their base in New York, and my trip was just to have it confirmed. We’ll be moving to Manhattan tonight; I already have the plane tickets.”

Anna couldn’t believe it. Well, the part where he’d insinuated that he’d only wanted her in the first place to create an image; that she could believe. But New York…he knew exactly what he was doing, and what he was doing was moving her away from everyone who  _did_  love her. 

Fury filled her heart. All her life, she’d been looked down on. The screw-up little sister, the school slut, the drop-out. Always only second-best. Never good enough. 

Elsa, the best friend she could ever ask for, had certainly messed up, but her priorities  _always_  had her sister first. Tiana and her coworkers had kept her, not because they pitied her, but because even when she kept being late, they kept seeing the qualities that made her  _good._  Kristoff…he’d finally helped her realize all her misconceptions, and what true love really was.

And that wasn’t even everyone. Her parents, who before they’d died had always loved their daughters equally. The Bjorgmans, who’d immediately considered her part of their family. Even the restaurant patrons, who joked and flirted and tipped her extra because they cared about her in their own small way.

And why shouldn’t they? Because by God, she fucking  _deserved_  to be loved!

Ignoring the pain, she heaved herself up onto the couch and locked eyes with Hans.

“No.” He froze, staring at her in disbelief.

“What?”

“You heard me,” she spat. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

For the first time since she’d met him, Hans looked genuinely shocked. It was like she was a chemistry experiment composed of safe stable compounds, but that had still blown up in his face. 

“I’m leaving. I might’ve told you earlier, but now it’s too late, and you just sealed the deal. Goodbye.”

Still ignoring the pain in her shoulders, she reached under the couch to grab her suitcase. That must have been what finally jolted him back.

He lunged over and clamped his hands on her shoulders. She doubled over gasping, tears streaming.

“Don’t you dare,” he snarled. “If you leave me, I will kill you, bitch. I will  _kill_  you.”

Anna could barely think through the red haze, but she still spat,

“Get your filthy hands off of me.”

“Shut up!”

“You heard me! Don’t  _ever_  touch me again!”

He backhanded her across the face, spraying more blood from her nose. She fell backwards over the couch shoulders-first, her joints popping back into place with a painful  _snap!_  

Anna took advantage of that to scramble backwards into the kitchen, thinking fast. She wasn’t going to be able to get away from him if she fought fairly…

Her eyes fell on the small dining area.

_Hmmm…_

Hans stalked into the kitchen, breathing heavily. He snatched one of the meat cleavers off the counter and kept advancing on her. Anna, meanwhile, kept crawling backwards towards the dining table.

“You stupid whore. Why I ever thought I could use you, I have no idea.” He lifted the cleaver over his head.

Swifter than she could’ve known, Anna snatched one of the chairs by the legs and swung it blindly at him. It connected with his shins with a hard crunching noise, and he doubled over, howling in pain.

Anna leaped to her feet and darted into the living room, snatching her suitcase. Running even faster than when she’d been in that triathlon, she was outside, in the elevator, out on the sidewalk at her car. She threw her suitcase in the backseat and stomped on the gas pedal, running a red light and nearly clipping a stop sign in her hurry to escape. Blindly and in terror, she didn’t think, just drove, her heart hammering, as she just tried to get as far away as possible. 

A while later, she was driving past the Lincoln Memorial when she finally slowed down. She leaned over the steering wheel, breathing heavily, amazed by her own audacity.

_I did it. I really did it._

A grin of triumph spread across Anna’s face. At the red light, she whooped with joy and punched the air. Several other drivers turned to give her weird looks, but she didn’t care. Unfortunately, her victory was still tainted with worry. Hans would still be out for her blood, probably literally. His little meal ticket had just run for it, he wouldn’t think twice about getting revenge for that. Especially if she’d humiliated him in the process. 

“To hell with that,” she muttered, pulling to a stop near the front of the Memorial. She double-parked the Volkswagen and climbed out, letting the cool April breeze tousle her braids. Her ballet flats sank into the dew-damp grass, carefully treading around the blooming wildflowers. She also noticed that the cherry trees were in full blossom, the flowers draped on the branches like dresses made of pink snow. 

If dresses could be made of snow, that is. Stupid metaphors. 

Anna finally came to a stop in front of the seated Abraham Lincoln, gazing unafraid up at the president’s face. 

“I think,” she mused, “I finally see why you’re Elsa’s favorite monument." 

Speaking of which: she took out her phone and hit her sister’s number.

"Anna? Anna? Oh my God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” A lump suddenly swelled in her throat, coupled with a slightly crazy giggle. “Oh Elsa, I’m so much  _better_  than fine. Tell you what: call Kristoff and tell him to meet us at Tiana’s Palace. I’ll tell you guys everything,  _and_  buy dinner. And before you say something all noble and selfless about how I don’t have to do that, I’ll tell you that employees get twenty-five percent discounts." 

"Well, I’m a woman who loves shopping; I can’t argue with discounts,” Elsa joked. “Can’t wait to hear it, sis. See you there.”

“See you there!”

She shoved her phone back into her pocket, and grinned up at Honest Abe.

“I’d talk longer, but I think I have an appointment with my sister and boyfriend. But I’ll see you around for sure.”

But before she left, she did one last thing. She finally pulled the flashy ring off her finger and threw it away as far as she could. Maybe someone would eventually find it. But who cared if nobody did?

 

 

Tiana’s Palace was mostly empty, except for the people whose families were from Europe and tended to eat around their children’s bedtimes. And except for table two, which was already occupied by two blond people who were bickering about the drinks menu.

“Kristoff, we are  _driving,_  you jackass. We are  _not_  getting alcohol.”

“ _You’re_  driving,” he retorted. “I’m not, so I can have one beer, and I’m also off-duty, so you can’t boss me around!”

“No, but I still haven’t told your mother about the cake, so I can still hold it over your–Anna!”

Anna darted over to them, beaming. 

“Hello, crazy people! I feel so good, I think I just became bulletproof. Like seriously, say anything you want to me, and I’m still gonna be great. Just don’t expect me to bring you your food. That’s plain rude.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” Kristoff promised. “Wow. You look so…what happened to your face?”

“What, is there still blood on it? Elsa, do you have a wetwipe? To answer your question, I got this blood by beating the shit out of my now-ex-fiancé.”

“That’s my sister,” Elsa smirked, handing Anna a wetwipe. After the blood was off her face, both of them stood up and hugged her tightly.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by a throat being cleared. All three of them looked up in time to see Tiana herself standing in front of them. Rather uncharacteristically, her eyes were misty, but she was still trying to hide that.

“Are these two your sister and boyfriend?” she asked. “The ones with the movies and the pictures?”

“You know, maybe you shouldn’t put it like that.”

“What pictures?” Elsa asked suspiciously. 

“But yes, they are. Are we, uh, too late?”

“You’re just fine. Does any food look good yet, or would y'all prefer to start with drinks?”

“Drinks,” Anna and Kristoff said in unison. Elsa sighed, and added, “Okay fine, you guys win. What they said.”

 

 

About an hour later, the three of them were well into their dinners and Anna’s story. 

“And then,” she continued, “I smacked him in the legs like a badass, grabbed my stuff, and ran for it like a bat out of hell. Then I found a place to take a rest, called Elsa, and now I’m here.”

“Now _that’s_  a cool story,” Elsa declared, pointing with her fork. “I’m saving it for when my kids are in high school. Now we just gotta finish that ending.”

“Does it involve finding Hans, locking him up, and throwing away the key?”

“Let’s hope so.”

“You guys are so vengeful,” Anna grinned, digging around in her bowl to get the last of her shrimp gumbo. “I love it.”

“And don’t you ever forget it. Who was the one in middle school who punched that kid Hal for making comments about your boobs?”

Anna paused.

“Me.”

“Well, I  _would’ve_  if you hadn’t gotten there first." 

Kristoff laughed.

"I wish I could’ve seen that.”

“I wish you could’ve too,” his girlfriend agreed. “It was truly glorious. I don’t think his nose ever was quite the same after that.”

“Now who’s vengeful?” Elsa rolled her eyes.

“Hey, you were saved the effort. You should be grateful.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The joy at table two of three people who loved each other more than almost anything else was something so powerful, anyone walking by probably would’ve gotten a big stupid grin on their face. They were  _that_  happy, and it had nothing to do with any alcohol.

The bell over the front door jingled. 

The restaurant was so empty, Anna turned her head to see who else was coming in at nearly ten at night. Immediately, a pint of blood drained from her face.

“Anna?” Kristoff asked. “Are you okay?”

“Okay, in retrospect,” she mumbled, “maybe I shouldn’t have immediately come to the place where I _work_  right after I ran away.”

“What?”

“Mrs. Campos,” came the familiar voice, and Elsa too turned even paler than usual, “I’m sorry to bother you at such a late hour–”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” Tiana snapped, and Anna silently praised whatever deities might exist for her boss. “I am about to close up, and you’re disturbing me and my employees. I hope you have a good excuse for doing this.”

“It actually has to do with one of your employees. You remember that I am engaged to your waitress, Anna Winters?”

“'Your waitress?’” Elsa hissed indignantly.

“ _That’s_  Hans!?” Kristoff looked outraged. 

“Of course I know. She only reminds me every five seconds.”

“I did  _not,_ ” Anna grumbled, despite her racing heart.

“Well anyway, today we had an argument and she stormed out.”

Kristoff and Elsa looked like they were going to break something.

“She didn’t come back, and I grew worried. I’ve been visiting some of the places that she usually likes to go to, but I haven’t found her yet. I was wondering if you’ve seen her around here recently?”

“Not since she finished her shift hours ago,” Tiana replied coolly. “And I am not the relationship monitor for my staff, so if you would kindly leave and not bother me again with your silly love drama, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Oh, I like her,” Elsa whispered. 

“Yo boss, who’s the hot guy?”

“Chel, this is Hans Westergard, Anna’s fiancé. Mr. Westergard, these are some more of my staff.”

“What’s he even doing here? Looking for Anna?”

“Well if he is, I saw Anna.”

Anna tried to stick her head around the booth she was sitting in and shake her head at Linda, but Hans was looking right in her direction. Sometimes her friend was just  _too_  helpful.

Hans sucked in a breath. 

“Are you sure? Where is she?”

_Please don’t tell him, please be rude for once in your life–_

“She’s sitting over there.” Anna took a deep breath and clenched her hands into fists.

“Odd, Mrs. Campos. I would’ve thought that you would’ve seen her coming in to your own restaurant." 

The charming politeness had left his voice, to be replaced by an awful smug tone.

” _You_  didn’t see her, did you?“ Tiana’s voice had sharpened. "Now if she wants to be left alone, you should leave her alone.”

“Wait, she wants to be alone?” Linda sounded mortified.

“But she’s not alone, is she?”

Anna lost it. She stood up, and wheeled around the side of the booth before anyone could tell her to stop. Hans was standing there smirking, Tiana was clutching a spatula like it was a knife, and the other staff members had flocked around the scene, all looking confused and annoyed. But when she stood up, all eyes turned to her.

“No, asshole, I’m not alone,” she snapped. “And I’m not as  _good_  as alone either like I was for nearly six years.”

“What are you talking about?” Hans’ eyes grew wide with practiced innocence. “'As good as alone’…I know you’re upset about tonight darling, but there’s no reason to go making things up.”

“Save it for the judge, Hans. And I mean that literally.”

Hans apparently decided that there was no more point in pretending. He advanced on her with that awful smirk, which was almost worse than his earlier rage. 

“And who do you think will believe you? It’ll be your word against mine. Hmm, now which is more credible…an illustrious businessman with everything to his name, or a hysterical third-rate waitress who never even went to college?”

There was a low rumbling sound, and a huge man stood up, his hand on Anna’s shoulder.

“Don’t you even  _dare_  talk to Anna. You’re not even worthy to speak her name, let alone put your hands on her. You put her through  _hell,_  you piece of–”

“Oh is this your little fuck buddy?” Hans sounded bored. “I must say Anna, your taste has dropped dramatically. Were none of the decent men interested in acquiring damaged goods?”

Kristoff actually snarled, and Anna briefly wondered where Elsa was. Hadn’t her sister been just as angry? Why was she still sitting down?

“Anna, please tell your attack dog to sit.”

“Kristoff,” she murmured, ignoring Hans and laying a hand on her boyfriend’s chest. “I’m okay, you don’t need to fight my battles for me. It’s okay, I love you.”

The pain in his eyes was palpable.

“Anna, he–”

“Yeah, I know.” She winced. “But let me do this myself.”

It looked difficult for him, but Kristoff backed off anyway.

“Good dog.” Hans smirked. “Now Anna…you have two options. You can go to court, lose the case, and have everyone in the District of Columbia know you for the whore you are for the rest of your life. Or…you can come with me to New York, and have everything go back to normal. No one need ever know about any of this.” He spread his arms to emphasize his point, apparently missing the vicious glares being shot at his back. “Considering what you’ve done, it’s more than you deserve.”

Anna turned around and pretended to think about it.

“Okay, I’ve got my answer.”

“Yes?”

She spun on her heel and sucker-punched him in the face. His nose broke with an audible  _crack!_  and he flew backwards into one of the tables. The entire restaurant cheered.

Hans staggered to his feet, blood pouring from his nose, murder in his eyes.

“You little–” He started towards Anna.

Immediately, the entire staff of Tiana’s Palace got between him and her. Meg cracked her knuckles loudly, Nani wielded a chrome coffee pot, Chel hefted her cell phone like she was going to throw it, and Linda looked like she was going to make up for her mistake with her extensive knowledge of martial arts. At the lead, Tiana tapped her spatula against the palm of her hand.

“I’ll tell you one more time,” she said slowly. “Get. Out. Of. My. Restaurant." 

"And if you decide you don’t want to,” a different voice rang out, and Elsa got to her feet. She brandished her cell phone like a trophy, a triumphant grin on her face. “It won’t really matter. You’ll know why in five…four…three…two…one…”

Right on cue, a police siren wailed.

Anna turned to her sister.

“You called the cops?”

“You mad?”

“Are you kidding!? I could kiss you; if you weren’t a girl and my sister that is.”

Hans tried to move toward Elsa, but Tiana whacked him with the spatula with the kind of viciousness usually reserved for burned pancakes. 

 Right then, the door burst open. A tall woman in a police uniform with short blond hair and a very big gun strolled inside. 

“Alright you bunch of slack-jawed cy-bugs, who’s the troublemaker?” she barked. “And be quick about it; I don’t want any whining and pussyfooting around.”

“He did it,” Meg announced, pointing at Hans.

“The charges against this tiddley-winker are assault and battery, sexual harassment, rape, attempted murder, and trespassing on private property. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” Elsa said clearly.

“You’ll never get me convicted, you bitch.” Hans attempted to struggle through the crowd again. “The family lawyers are gonna–”

“Shut the fiddlesticks up!” The policewoman clamped a pair of handcuffs on him and jabbed him in the back with her gun. “If you don’t keep your chew-hole clamped like a good criminal, I’ll toss you into a cell in your bloomers! I don’t care how much gold your family rolls around in, a criminal is a criminal to me. Move your tuckus!”

She grabbed Hans by the back of his shirt and hefted him outside into the back of her car like a very bad dog. Before she left however, she stuck her head back in the restaurant and added,

“By the way, have a good night. You’ll need your sleep to get him convicted.”

When they were gone, everyone was quiet for a few moments. And then everyone started talking at once.

While they did, Anna headed back to Elsa and Kristoff, feeling apprehensive. Sure, she’d won an important battle. But the war was still going on. 

“Hey,” she said. “Um…thanks you guys.”

“Why thank me?” Kristoff asked. “It was all you.”

“All I did was call that cop,” Elsa added. “You were the one brave enough to stand up to him.”

Anna suddenly remembered what Hans had said: that he’d met Elsa. She wondered why her sister hadn’t mentioned it, but decided to ask some other time. Right now, all she wanted to do was go to bed.

“Thanks anyway. And goodnight sis.”

“I’m calling my best prosecutor,” Elsa promised, before she headed outside to her blue hybrid.

Anna yawned.

“Bedtime?” Kristoff asked.

“Yeah,” she murmured sleepily. 

“That sounds nice.”

“Well, let’s go home.”

Home. After a long day with a trial to look forward to, home sounded pretty good to Anna. 

“Yeah. Let’s go home.”


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I did extensive research on courtroom proceedings for this fic, but ultimately this is a work of fiction and I have no first-hand experience. Please excuse any mistakes in these chapters.

Anna thought that nothing could astonish her at this point, but she was still surprised by how quickly and efficiently her sister found the so-called “best federal prosecutor I could find.” Only two weeks after Hans was arrested, Elsa was already rounding up help for the upcoming trial. However, she was still being annoyingly cryptic about the lawyer that she’d hired.

“But Elsa…”

“No buts,” Elsa replied, taking a deep draught of her mocha. “She’s the best prosecutor in the whole city, second maybe only to Caroline Julien. If you can put up with her, that is.”

“Oh that’s inspiring,” Anna scoffed. “What does she do, drown kittens?”

“No, and I told you, you’ll see when she gets here.”

“Yay.”

Anna took a massive drink of hot cocoa and leaned back in her chair. She didn’t mind meeting her new lawyer in a Starbucks. What she minded was how cryptic Elsa was being about it.

“Look, come on, just tell me. What’s she like? Hell, you haven’t even told me her  _name._ ”

“You’ll see when she gets here." 

"You know, I think that you’re enjoying this.”

The door opened, and into the cafe walked a young woman with a wild mane of curly red hair. She marched right up to the counter and starting bossing around the barista, a nervous-looking teenage boy with tufty blond hair.

“Ah’ll have a black espresso, and a–no, you simpering jackanipe, ah don’t want cream or sugar, thah’s disgusting’. Ah was  _goin’_  to say, before ah was so rudely interrupted, that ah also wanted cheesecake,” she ordered in a strong Scottish accent.

Anna craned her neck and peered over at the redheaded woman.

“Don’t tell me that’s her.”

“That’s her.”

The redheaded woman gathered her coffee and cheesecake and sat down with the two sisters. She was a little taller – and maybe a little older – than Anna; and aside from her crazy hair, she had sky-blue eyes, a tiny dusting of freckles, and was as lithe as a runner. She was dressed in a dark green blouse and brown slacks, and walked like she meant business. 

“Elsa Frost,” she proclaimed. “Ah assume thah this is yer sister Anna? Whose bastard – ah mean  _ex-fiancé_  – that we’re prosecuting?" 

 Anna grinned.

"Oh, I like her.”

“Of course ye do. Yer not stupid, are ye?" The redheaded woman extended a calloused hand. "Merida DunBroch.”

“Anna Winters.”

“Well, Anna Winters, ah can tell ye thah this is goin’ to be a hard case.” Merida pulled a briefcase onto the table and started pulling out papers and files. “Yer bastard’s family’s got a lot of influence with the local judges, jurors, and  _especially_  a shitload of defense attorneys. Yer evidence is circumstantial and mostly word-of-mouth, since no one ever saw any physical evidence of beatings or rape on ye. If ye pursue this, lots of secrets are goin’ to come out on both sides.”

Was it Anna’s imagination, or did Elsa turn even paler at this?

“So…” She fidgeted with her cup. “Are you telling me not to do this?”

Merida gaped incredulously.

“Are ye mad? Of course ye should do this! And not just because ah get paid for it. If we willingly let men like Hans Westergard get off scot-free, what kind of women does it make us?”

“Ones that are going to a special place in hell,” Elsa quipped. “Look, just because something’s going to be hard doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try.”

“ _I_  know that. For a second, I was worried that you’d hired a discouraging lawyer.”

Merida grumbled something under her breath in Gaelic. 

“Ahright,” she finally said out loud, “Ahm goin’ to try and ignore that, for the sake of gettin’ paid. To start off…what kind of evidence do ye have?”

Anna chewed her lip. 

 "Um…not much. Mostly just my word. Oh, and the words of a few other people, like a truck driver and a chef.“

” _Thad ians a’ choire theth gun a thighinn as,_ “ the lawyer muttered to herself. "Look, Anna, ye’ve got teh find more evidence than that. Do yeh have anything like photographs or somethin’?”

“Not really.”

“This  _is_  goin’ teh be an uphill battle, then. Fine. Get all the witnesses yeh can, an’ make sure yer stories are watertight. Ah’ve got work teh do.”

“Alright,” Elsa said briskly, with an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice. “We’ll get started.”

“Also,” Merida added. “Ah’d recommend not tellin’ the press about this.”

 

  
They all promised not to tell the press, or any nosy neighbors, or anyone who even had anything that could double as a camera. Naturally, the story was all over the news stations, papers, and tabloids the very next day.

“Well, this is embarrassing,” Kristoff declared as the radio blared WUSA9 over a breakfast of waffles. “How many more people do you think are going to describe me as tall, fair, and hairy?”

“Well, they’re two out of three right,” Anna replied as she drowned her waffles in maple syrup. “Anyhow, look on the bright side: Merida and Elsa managed to round up a lot of people to help us with the preliminary next week and the actual trial. As far as we’re all concerned, the sooner this is over the better.”

“No kidding.” He leaned back in his seat. “I know that that lady cop was all about how secrets would be coming out, but it seems to me that this is just going to be boring. And difficult.”

“Yeah, and those Westergards are awfully pissed about all this. They’re going to be even madder after they find out about the press leak. I’ll be surprised if anyone ever comes to their restaurants again after this is over.”

“Eh, screw the Westergards.”

“Nah, that’s what I’ve got you for.”

Kristoff was still laughing when the news anchor changed topic, sort of.

_“So Dale, what do you think about the accused’s family, owners of the illustrious restaurant chain The Southern Isles, making claims to Elsa Frost, owner and CEO of Arendelle’s, the most popular brand of ice cream in the country, that they had information they could use on her and her family if her sister proceeded in pressing charges?”_

Both Kristoff and Anna stopped laughing. 

 _“I don’t know, Chip. What information could they have on_ that  _family? Elsa Frost and everyone she associates with all have reputations cleaner than dishes out of the dishwasher.”_

“Bad metaphor.”

“That’s a simile.”

“Who cares?”

_“Yes, we all know that. But so did the Westergard family, even with that meat incident. Maybe they do have something on Ms. Frost after all.”_

Anna said nothing.

_“Well Chip, I don’t care about whatever they manage to scrape up about Ms. Frost, as long as she keeps making Nuts ‘n Chunks ice cream. Now, in Virginia, we’re hearing stories about a environmentalist group clashing with a bunch of prospective miners…”_

Kristoff switched the station, and the sound of Bastille rolled over Anna’s ears. Her boyfriend turned and looked at her. 

 "Anna? Are you okay?“

"Not really,” she admitted. “What do you think the Westergards found out about Elsa?”

Kristoff’s face darkened.

“With those bastards? Could be anything. Doubt it’s as bad as anything their precious baby brother did, but who knows? Sometimes Elsa’s pretty hard to read.”  

“Don’t I know it,” she sighed, stabbing her waffles with her fork.

For once, he had no way to help her. He just kept watching her over the top of his breakfast and coffee, looking despondent. 

“Look,” he finally said, attempting to be optimistic, “maybe they’re just bluffing. Maybe they don’t have anything on Elsa, and they’re just saying it to get to her. Or maybe they do have something on her, and it’s even worse than we could’ve guessed." 

"Your optimism could use work.”

“Sorry.”

“But yeah. Maybe we’re just over speculating. There could be nothing going on." 

"I hope you’re right,” Kristoff addressed his waffles. “I hope you’re right.”

“Waffles can’t be right. They don’t have opinions on anything.”

“Funny, feistypants. That’s really funny.”

 

 

Before the preliminary started, there weren’t very many people gathered there besides the jury. On the left side of the courtroom, Anna’s side, there was Tiana dressed uncharacteristically in a green pantsuit accompanied by Naveen and a pretty blond woman in a pink designer dress, a brunette couple consisting of a handsome man with a goatee and a short-haired woman who looked strangely familiar, and a short man with buckteeth and tufty pale hair.

On the right side, Hans sat in the defendant’s chair. Behind him was a plethora of men who looked like him; most of whom had the same green eyes and blank expressions. Alongside them was the glamorous woman from table six fingering her cell phone, a weaselly old man with a big mustache and round glasses, and an unnaturally tall man dressed all in black with slicked-back black hair and creepy yellow eyes.

At the front of the courtroom, Merida stood tall and stubborn in a dark blue dress, her eyes alight, her hair running unbound down her back. Beside her stood an unfamiliar man who Anna guessed was the attorney for the Westergards: who was tall and lanky, almost catlike; with dark skin, sleek black hair, and almost amber eyes with a scar running down over one lid.

Anna sat in between her sister and her boyfriend, fidgeting with her hair. Her green dress was nice, and definitely a label, but it also itched. Her high heeled pumps made her feet sore even when she  _wasn’t_ standing up in them.

Kristoff looked distinctly out of place in his own suit, constantly grumbling and trying to loosen his tie before Elsa would smack his hand and tell him to knock it off.

Elsa herself was practically a wreck: the hem of her teal dress was being worried to death by her pale fingers, beads of blood were showing up against her lips to match the lipstick stains on her incisors, dark circles visible under her eyes visible even with the heavy concealer she’d applied. Occasionally, a deep shaky breath would heave its way out of her mouth.

Anna wondered about Elsa, her mind going back to the conversation she’d overheard before they’d all taken their seats:

 

 

 _She hadn’t meant to hear anything. All she’d been doing was going to the bathroom, swear. All that coffee she’d had at breakfast had to go_ somewhere,  _after all._

_“Kristoff, could you save my seat? I’ll be back in a moment.”_

_“Sure. Wait, have you seen your sister?”_

_“No. Haven’t seen Frosty anywhere around here either, actually. Maybe they haven’t arrived yet.”_

_“It’s not like her to be even close to late, especially not to something as important as this. Normally she would’ve shown up half an hour ago.”_

_“Yeah, that is weird. Maybe I should just stay here and wait for her."_

_"Are you kidding? Do you really want to piss yourself in the middle of a courtroom?”_

_“Okay, good point. See you in a minute.”_

_She came out of the bathroom feeling about ten pounds lighter, and almost missed the voices coming from…a janitor’s closet?_

_Her curiosity not even allowing a second thought, she’d immediately pressed her ear up against the door._

_“Jack, I’m scared,” sobbed the familiar woman’s voice. “What if those sons of bitches weren’t lying? What if they found out about…what’ll I do?”_

_“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” her sister’s husband replied soothingly. “No one knows your medical records except you, me, and the doctors. They couldn’t possibly have found out.”_

_Medical records? What kind of secret_ was _Elsa hiding?_

_“Nobody else can know,” Elsa choked. “Especially not Anna–”_

_Anna stiffened._

_“–or she’ll hate me. It’s bad enough that she has to live with the knowledge that her only family as good as abandoned her, but if she knew why I did it, she’ll know I’m a freak as well as a disloyal bitch.”_

_“Is that what you think of yourself?” Jack’s voice sharpened. It was strange to hear from a man who was normally so lighthearted and playful. “Elsa, don’t you dare say that to the person who swore to love you unconditionally and expect me to agree. I keep your secrets because I know you’re not ready to tell most people. But don’t you_ dare _insult yourself, to my face or ever.”_

_Elsa took a shaky breath._

_“Okay, I’m sorry. You’re right, I need to get ahold of myself.”_

_“You’ll be okay,” he promised, his tone back to normal. “Things’ll be okay, no matter what. But don’t get ahold of yourself.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“Because that’s_ my _job.”_

_Elsa gave a yelp that made Anna jump and try hard not to giggle._

_“There are exactly two things wrong with what you just did!” Elsa spluttered. “First of all, we’re in a janitor’s closet of all places, and second of all, we don’t have time for any of that! The preliminary starts in half an hour!”_

_“You just don’t like fun, do you.”_

_“Oh sure, like I can really have fun right now. No amount of Eos is ever going to fix my lips after all the biting I’ve been doing.”_

_“If you want, you can fix your lips a different way instead.”_

_“What, and get my lipstick all over your–?”_

_Anna had decided that then would be a good time to excuse herself._

_"What took so long?“ Kristoff asked._

_"Oh, uh…the hand dryer broke."_

_He nodded in reply, not looking in the least bit satisfied with that answer. Elsa and Jack came in a few minutes later, grinning for a minute or so before the grim mood set in on both of them._

 

 

Everyone was nervous. But why? There was nothing to be nervous about;  the court was only going to be deciding if they wanted to pursue the guilt of the man who’d been making her life a living hell for five years…

"All rise!” shouted a member of the jury, and the entire courtroom scrambled to their feet. In walked the judge, an old bronze-skinned man with a long white beard and unusually pale eyes like he was blind. He slowly walked up to the bench and sat down behind it quite stiffly. Anna squinted up, and read the metal nameplate on the bench:  _Judge K. Nedakh._  

 "Order in the court,“ he declared.

"He sounds like Leonard Nimoy,” Jack whispered.

“No he doesn’t.”

“ _Order,_ ” Judge Nedakh repeated more forcefully. “Now, representing the defendant, the court would like to introduce attorney Taka Kifalme.”

“Your Honor,” Kifalme replied in a deep voice, a lazy smirk appearing on his face. 

“Representing the victim, the court introduces prosecutor Merida DunBroch.”

“It’s a pleasure as always, yer Honor,” Merida declared.

“The court also recognizes the jury, the clerks, and…are there any additional Counsel members to be addressed?”

Kifalme opened his mouth to reply, but Merida beat him to it.

“All that remain are the guests, victim, and witnesses yer Honor.”

“Very well.” Judge Nedakh sat forward in his seat. “Let us commence. I will now read the charges against the accused.”

Everyone leaned forward in their seats eagerly.

“Hans Westergard, you stand accused of the repeated assault and battery of Anna Winters, the repeated rape of Anna Winters, the sexual harassment of Anna Winters and Elsa Frost, nee Winters–”

Anna started and gaped at her sister. Elsa’s face became impassive.

“–the attempted murder of Anna Winters, and trespassing on the private properties of Tiana Campos, nee Rose, and Jack and Elsa Frost. How do you plead?" 

 "Not guilty, Your Honor,” Hans replied smoothly. “To all of it.”

Murmurs ran through the courtroom, as relatively empty as it was.

“Order. Let us hear the evidence brought forth from the accusers. Miss DunBroch?”

“Ah’d be delighted, yer Honor.” Merida cleared her throat and marched up to the podium. She opened her briefcase, and pulled out a laptop, turning it so that the judge, jury, and audience could all see the screen. 

“Teh begin with, let’s see some security footage. These recordings are from the factory building where Ms. Frost works, from noon on the first of February, 2010.”

She pressed the PLAY button, and a grainy video started playing. It clearly of a meeting breaking up, with a lot of people, mostly men, leaving a conference room. Seated at the head of the long table was Elsa, looking younger, but considerably more tired. Her blonde hair was starting to escape its prim bun, and she was fiddling with the brooch at her neck.

The court was silent as one of the men hung back. Anna recognized him immediately as the video continued playing, and realized that he was making a direct beeline to Elsa. The video was silent, but Hans and Elsa’s mouths moved silently for a minute or so, and then he kissed her.

The world felt like it’d been swept out from under Anna’s feet. 

Yelling broke out, and Merida paused the video while Judge Nedakh had to pound his gavel several times.   

 When the video continued playing, Elsa was practically frozen to her seat while Hans continued to kiss her. He broke away momentarily to mouth something, before kissing her again and putting his hand down her shirt. Elsa immediately broke away, and tried to push him aside, but he continued to pursue her around the conference room. She looked like she was shouting something at him, and he kept cornering her until he had backed her against a wall. His back was to the camera, but there was another brief flash of Elsa’s face, and all that registered on it was terror.

The video might’ve ended very differently if a security guard hadn’t come into the room and shouted something at Hans, before Tasering him. Anna had to stifle a snicker as her ex-fiancé spasmed under the electric shock and the guard quite literally kicked him out of the conference room. 

The video ended. Merida turned to the judge. “Yer Honor, ah believe that that is enough to try for the sexual harassment charges?”

Kifalme stood.

“Objection, Your Honor.”

“What fresh hell is this?” Anna muttered.

“Shhh.”

“First of all, the video is terrible quality. You cannot even tell for sure that it’s my client harassing that poor woman.”

“Of course it’s terrible quality; it’s from 2010,” shouted the brunette man with the goatee.

“Eugene!” scolded the woman with him. “We’re in court!”

Kifalme ignored both of them. 

“Second of all, if Elsa Frost was truly harassed by my client in February 2010, which was over five years ago, why did she not go to court sooner?”

“Because arsebuckets like ye wouldn’t believe her,” Merida growled.

“Miss DunBroch, that’s enough,” snapped Judge Nedakh. “Objection sustained. That video is not good enough evidence for the sexual harassment charges.”

Anna felt like she’d been slapped. The video was one of the only physical pieces of evidence that they had.

“We’re not done yet,” she whispered to herself.

Merida was bristling with fury, but she managed to say,

“Ahright. Fine. May ah hear from the first witness?”

Jack gave the stunned Elsa a kiss on the cheek before heading up to the witness stand and swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Merida paced back and forth like a caged tiger.

“Mr. Frost, how long have ye been married to yer wife?”

“Nearly two years,” he replied. “But we’ve been together for three and a half.”

“Have ye ever had any problems with other men makin’ approaches to yer wife?”

“A lot of times.” An almost unnoticeable shadow passed over his face. “She’s a very beautiful and powerful woman, and usually it’s innocent enough stuff. But yeah, there have been times when she’s been sexually harassed. Even after we married.”

Despite the recent influx of secrets, Anna felt the urge to take her sister’s hand. She succumbed to it. 

“Has Elsa been harassed by the defendant?”

“Yes. Back when we were still dating about two and a half years ago, I was picking her up at work to take her back to my place. She was coming off another meeting, and there was this guy who kept addressing himself as Hans who kept bugging her. He was saying stuff about how she was too good to let herself go to waste, that she deserved someone to help her with her workload, so she wouldn’t be the only breadwinner. She called him a sexist asshole and told him to fuck off or she’d call security.”

“He told me several times that night how much he loved that,” Elsa grinned, her cheeks turning pink.  

“Teh be clear…this was  _after_  the defendant became engaged teh Anna Winters?”

“Anna said nearly six years ago now, so yes.”

“Thank ye, Mr. Frost. Ye may step down. Now ah call the next witness, Kristoff Bjorgman.”

Kristoff gave his tie one last awkward yank and stepped up to the witness stand. His eyes were locked with Anna’s as he took his oath.

“Mr. Bjorgman, how long have ye known Anna Winters?”

“Since last November,” he rumbled. “So…a little over five months.”

“When she was still engaged to the defendant, did she act in any way related to him that made ye suspicious?”

“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate. “She would constantly have to sneak around, or beg for permission for the smallest favors. She would be scared all the time of getting him angry. She couldn’t even tell him that she was around another man for fear of him getting angry about that." 

"And yet you still ended up sleeping with Miss Winters,” called the glamorous woman, looking amused. A few of the older Westergards sniggered.

Kristoff’s face reddened.

“That was only able to happen because the defendant went on a two-week business trip. I’m pretty sure you all already knew that anyway. Your Honor, can I continue?”

“Is it relevant to the question?”

“Yeah.”

“You may.”

“Also, I sometimes noticed that Anna had an irregular limp, that she would occasionally grimace in pain as she sat down or flinch if someone made a sudden gesture towards her.”

“Objection!” called Kifalme. “This is speculation!”

“Overruled. Continue, Mr. Bjorgman.”

“Yeah, I will. Anna also came to me the night the defendant left on his business trip, and full-on confessed to me that he’d been abusing her for as long as they’d been engaged.”

Merida turned triumphantly to Judge Nedakh. 

“Is thah good enough evidence, yer Honor?”

“Perhaps.” The judge’s face was impassive. “Mr. Kifalme, do you wish to speak to the witnesses now?”

“Indeed.” He rose to his feet. “Well, just Mr. Bjorgman will do.”

Merida sat down, her back ramrod straight while Kifalme strode up to Kristoff in the lazy catlike manner of his.

“Mr. Bjorgman, you are romantically involved with Miss Winters?”

“Yes.”

“Since March? When my client started officially preparing for his wedding with her?”

“Damn,” Anna muttered. “The resident asshat told him then.”

“It’s not that big a deal,” Elsa told her reassuringly.

“Yeah, since then. But I’d been in love with her for a while before that.”

“Interesting,” Kifalme murmured. “Did you and her speculate about how to be together? The way young lovers in a forbidden romance tend to?” The hidden scorn in his voice was slowly becoming more evident.

“Yes.” A scowl was creeping across Kristoff’s face.

Merida shot up. “Objection! This is irrelevant to the case!”

“Since you’re so kind to point it out, Miss DunBroch, I was finishing anyway. Thank you, Mr. Bjorgman.”

 

 

The jury and judge were out for a while to discuss whether to continue the case, but Anna wasn’t worried about whether they would or not. It seemed pretty obvious that they would; the opposition hadn’t put up much of a fight. After years of living with Hans,  _that_  was what worried her.

It didn’t seem to bother anyone else, though.

“Their defense was  _pathetic,_ ” Jack said gleefully. “Hans, I’d like you to meet my good friend, the D.C. penitentiary.”

“I’m actually kind of surprised,” Tiana agreed. “I mean, I expected better from the ruthless lawyers of the powerful Westergard family. I could put up a better defense about letting my soufflé collapse.”

“You never let your soufflé collapse,” Anna couldn’t help pointing out.

“Y'all know what I mean.”

“You guys are right,” Elsa said. Her distress had apparently melted away, and she was once again smiling and laughing. “Maybe this won’t be such an uphill battle after all.”

“Let’s hope so.”

“Everyone?” Merida stuck her head around the doorframe. “The jury’s back.”

Eagerly, the group filed back into the courtroom from their cars where they were making phone call, from the bathroom, or from the nearby Starbucks. The judge and jury were waiting, their faces impossible to read.

Once everyone was settled, Judge Nedakh said,

“The court calls the defendant to a full criminal trial on May 13, 2015. Until then, the defendant will return to the custody of Sheriff Calhoun to sit the rest of his bail. Court dismissed.”

The gavel dropped. Everyone filed out of the courthouse, talking loudly. As she headed out with her friends, Anna caught the eye of Hans who was being led out by a pair of police officers. Even as she was surrounded by people who loved her and he was handcuffed, he gave her a knowing smirk.

Anna shivered. 


	13. Chapter 12

At this point, it seemed like all Anna and the people around her did these days was prepare for the upcoming trial. Merida spent hours with them combing through their memories and preparing their witness statements and other evidence. But their memories grew short, and their tempers grew even shorter.

After a long Sunday afternoon of doing paperwork over at Elsa’s office, Anna and her sister were driving home together in a haze of frustrations. 

 "You could at least  _try_  to pay attention,“ Elsa snapped. "I’m not doing this for  _me,_  you know.”

“No, I don’t know,” Anna retorted. “Just like I didn’t know that you were harassed by Hans before, until I found out from that security tape. You  _are_  doing this for you, Elsa, and don’t deny it, because you’ll just be lying to me even more.”

Elsa bristled.

“Don’t you dare insinuate that my priorities don’t center on you this time, Anna. This is mostly about _you._  Not me, however selfish you think I am.”

“Well then, how come you didn’t tell me what he’d done to you?”

“How come  _you_  didn’t tell  _me_  what he’d done to you for months?”

“It’s not the same!” Anna protested. “I’d been living under the same roof as him for years! He didn’t have as much of an influence on you. Tell me the real reason: why couldn’t you  _trust_  me?”

The anger melted off Elsa’s face. Slowly, it was replaced with exhaustion. Her eyes turned from their usual panicky at-the-wheel stare forward to look at her sister. Anna was startled by how dark the circles under Elsa’s eyes were; like a pair of bruises.

 _Has she been getting_  any  _sleep recently?_

Elsa exhaled and relaxed her grip on the steering wheel. “I was scared,” she finally admitted. “Scared that you wouldn’t believe me. You seemed besotted with Hans, and I didn’t want you getting angry at me if I told you that he’d harassed me. Also, I had a suspicion that seemed silly at the time: that he wanted to get ahold of me for my company’s influence, and it didn’t make much sense with you in the equation.”

“But it does, actually,” Anna admitted. “He actually told me that the only reason he’d wanted me in the first place was to create an image for himself. You might’ve been a better one, but since you weren’t budging, he had to settle for me.”

Elsa’s gaze switched back to the road ahead.

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but yeah.”

Anna was quiet. It did make sense. It was also embarrassingly true.

“And um…also…I need to ask you something else.”

Elsa’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. Anna steeled herself.

“When you shut me out…would the reason for that that you never told me happen to be medic–”

“We’re here!” Elsa yelled louder than was necessary. The blue hybrid nearly burnt its tires on the sidewalk as she pulled up beside Kristoff’s apartment building.

Anna swallowed down her surge of disappointment and frustration.

“Well, okay,” she said. “See you tomorrow then.”

“See you tomorrow.”

It was already late enough that Anna stepped from the hybrid into the dim of late evening, only lit by neon and light pollution. Elsa pulled away into the dark, and Anna pulled her windbreaker tighter around herself even just before she stepped into Kristoff’s apartment.

He was slumped over the dining room table, papers and files scattered around his plate of half-eaten cream of carrot soup. 

Anna chewed her lip. Usually he would eat anything carrot-related with just as much gusto as his brother.

She walked over the table and gently shook his shoulder.

“Huh?” He lifted his head, blinking slowly. “Did I fall asleep?”

“Maybe a little. Are you going to finish your soup?”

Kristoff shook his head and pushed it over to her. It was lukewarm, but that didn’t matter as she began wolfing it down.

Kristoff meanwhile, laid his head down on the table and sighed deeply.

“Ugh,” he mumbled into the tabletop. “Legal jargon; more like legal bullcrap. I can’t understand a word of this shit.”

“I don’t think even the Supreme Court does,” Anna replied through a mouthful of soup. “And on another note: you haven’t been getting much sleep recently. Confusing yourself late into the night isn’t going to win the case.”

“It’s not that late,” he protested. “Only…what? Eight-thirty?”

“Nine, actually.”

“Well, you’ve been working yourself really hard too. I just want to help.”

“Understandable. And I know that everyone else is so tense too, but I don’t live with them. I know that they’re trying to help me, but there’s really nothing I can do to help  _them,_  and it does get kinda frustrating. You, on the other hand…”

Kristoff lifted his head.

“What do you have in mind for ‘relaxing’ me?” he asked, a grin beginning to spread across his face.

Anna set down her soup spoon and headed over to the other side of the table. She came up on him from behind, kissing his neck and starting to slide her hands under his shirt. 

Kristoff sighed in pleasure and tilted his head and body back, the delicate skin fully exposed for her maximum access. Taking advantage of this, she nipped at one of his exposed veins and allowed a bruise to spread over the side of his neck, before grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it off.

That was when he abruptly stood up and walked away. Anna was about to protest when she realized that he’d gone over on the couch, laying on his back and smirking at her.

She dashed over and climbed on top of him, kissing every bit of exposed tan skin, listening to his groans of delight and working her lips lower, letting him seize her own shirt and swiftly tug it off over her head…

The doorbell abruptly rang.

Anna threw her head back and yelled in frustration.

“Oh come on!” she complained. “You can’t make me this horny and then have the doorbell ring  _now!_ ”

“Who the hell is even coming over at this hour?” Kristoff grumbled, flopping his head back into one of the pillows.

Anna got to her feet and staggered over to the door, wrenching it open. Elsa and Merida stood grimly before her, Elsa still looking exhausted. But as the two other women took her in, their eyebrows shot up into their hairlines. Anna realized too late that she was standing in front of them with no shirt on and what were probably really swollen lips.

“Do ye just want us teh come back in an hour?” Merida asked dryly. 

“Can you actually do that?” she asked hopefully. 

“No.”

“Damn.”

Anna headed back into the living room to put her shirt back on as they walked in. Kristoff reluctantly headed back into the kitchen to pick up his own shirt, Elsa seated herself in the armchair, and Merida was about to lower herself down on the couch. Before she hesitated.

“Am ah goin to regret it if ah sit down here?”

“Of course not,” Anna said distractedly as she rubbed an ice cube over her lips to get rid of the puffiness. “We never get any wet patches on the couch. At least, I don’t think we do.”

Merida decided to sit on the floor.

“So why are you here?” Kristoff asked, pulling his shirt back on and looking at Elsa’s somber expression. “You look like you’re going to fire me or something. You’re not going to fire me, are you?”

“Be realistic,” Elsa scoffed. “If I wanted to fire you, I wouldn’t bring a lawyer. I could do it easily by myself.”

“Was that supposed to be comforting? I hope it wasn’t.”

Merida cleared her throat.

“If yer all done jabberin’ ah have to tell em why ahm here.”

“Right.” Elsa straightened in her seat.

Kristoff and Anna exchanged nervous looks. What could possibly be so important and worrying?

“Ah have bad news about the trial,” Merida announced. “Anna, yer sister is currently testifying as a victim, since she was harassed. But yeh know that she wants teh also testify as a witness for yer abuse, since God knows we need all the witnesses we can get.”

“Yeah, I know that. So…?”

“So, yeh  _can’t_  testify as both a victim of a crime and an expert witness. Elsa here’s goin’ to have to not be a witness." 

"What?” Kristoff leaned forward in his seat, his eyes wide with shock. “There’s  _no_  precedent for someone being both? No exceptions?" 

"Ah tried teh make an exception, Kristoff. Believe me, ah tried. But Elsa’s goin’ teh have to just be a victim for as long as the charges committed against her are up. Ah just thought she tell the two of yeh first.”

Elsa tried to smile. 

“It’s okay guys. We can always get another witness right?”

“No we can’t,” Kristoff said angrily. “There’s no one else who saw anything who wants to help.”

“I know that,” she sighed. “I don’t want to do this. But it’s true: as long as we press the sexual harassment charges, I can’t be a witness.”

Anna sat numbly, rooted to her seat. Of course they had to press Elsa’s sexual harassment charges. It just…went without saying. But the lack of witnesses they had, because of the coupled effects of Anna not telling anyone and the Westergards’ influence that tended to scare people into silence, they had few enough witnesses as it was. 

There was silence for a moment. Then Kristoff said, in a low voice,

“Drop Elsa’s sexual harassment and trespassing charges.”

“What!?” Anna shot to her feet. “Kristoff, you can’t–”

“There’s still enough crimes listed to lock up Hans for a good long time if we convict him of them. And we’ll be more likely to convict him of them if Elsa drops her charges.”

“She’s my  _sister,_  I can’t just let those things go–”

“You’ve got a point,” Elsa said, straightening up in her seat. 

“ _Thank_  you!”

“I was actually talking to Kristoff.”

“What the fuck, Elsa!?”

“Getting Hans locked up is our number one priority,” Elsa continued, ignoring Anna’s protests. “If I testify as an expert witness to the abuse, then that’ll be more likely to happen. I can let go of my charges for that.”

“No, Elsa don’t do this,” Anna begged. “How could you forget that he tried to do to you what he did to me?”

“I will never forget.” Elsa’s eyes were as hard and cold as a glacier’s core. “But getting justice for what he did to you will be all the revenge that I need. Merida?”

The prosecutor reluctantly nodded. 

“Ah’ll tell the judge teh drop yer charges tomorrow morning.”

When the two other women had left, Anna wheeled on her boyfriend.

“What the  _hell_  was that!?”

“Look, this is the best way of getting justice for both of you!”

“That’s bullshit if I ever heard it. Drop the charges? You don’t care that she’ll have everyone forget that she’s a victim too, that she’ll basically paint a bulls-eye over her chest by testifying for me? You don’t care about all that, do you?”

“It’s not like I’m forcing her into this! Elsa knows exactly what she’s getting into, and both of us are doing it for  _you!_ ”

“You shouldn’t sacrifice my sister like some suicidal chess pawn for me!” Anna screamed, tears streaking her cheeks. “I don’t  _want_  that!”

“What  _do_  you want?” Kristoff bellowed. “To let the man who treated you like shit to get off scot-free? Is that what you want? Because if you don’t let Elsa testify, that’s what’s going to happen!”

“You fucking  _bastard!_ ”

“Fine, maybe I am! But if you want him to be let off, then just keep on acting like a brat!”

Enraged, Anna spun on her heel and stormed out of the living room towards the bedroom. Once she was inside, she wrenched the door back on its hinges as far as it would go.

“Where do you think you’re g–”

_BANG!_

The door slammed shut with such force that the hinges popped. 

Anna threw herself down on the bed and buried her face in the pillow, squeezing her eyes shut to try to stop herself from crying. 

 

 

She woke up early the next morning, and staggered into the kitchen for breakfast. While she was getting the cereal out, she looked back over her shoulder into the living room and started in surprise.

_Oh my God. I thought that was just a cliche._

 Kristoff, still fully clothed, was passed out and snoring on the couch, his face buried in one of the pillows. Anna couldn’t help giggling at how ridiculous he looked, with his hair sticking up like a startled hedgehog’s quills and his socked feet draped over the edge of the couch.

She walked over and sat down next to him with her cereal before putting on the TV. The news started blaring, and her boyfriend snorted loudly at the sudden noise.

“Hnrgh, whah…?”

“You owe me an apology,” she replied through a mouthful of Cheerios. “Don’t say you don’t, because you do. And make it snappy, because I still have work to go to.”

Kristoff lifted his head and yawned, before tilting his head up to look at her.

“Okay, I will,” he sighed. “I’m sorry. For yelling at you and not considering your input when making a tough decision." 

 Anna stopped chewing and looked down at him.

"But I’m not sorry for the decision that I made. You understand why?" 

 She sighed and set her bowl of Cheerios on the coffee table.

"I think I do. Look, I know that you want what’s best for me, and I can definitely understand the want to lock Hans up and throw away the key. But pretty much anything Elsa-related these days is kind of a touchy subject. I still feel like there’s stuff she’s hiding from me, but she’s so freaked out and stressy and won’t let me help her.”

“I get it,” he said, sitting up. 

“Yeah, and I get now why you made that decision. And also, I’m sorry for freaking out and yelling at you. But next time, let me help make decisions. It’s my motherfucker of an ex-fiancé we’re trying to convict, after all.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Kristoff murmured, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead and rubbing her shoulders.

“Oh no. Don’t get any ideas there mister.”

“But you never got to 'relax’ me last night,” he replied in an innocent tone that didn’t match the smug grin he was wearing.

“Oh yeah, nice try. You can’t distract me; I’m still angry at you. Besides, you’re gonna make me late for work! Whoa. Wait, wait, I didn’t say put your pants back on! Okay, whatever, I’m late all the time anyway.”

 

 

The courtroom was much more full this time. It was brimming of all sorts of people, from Anna’s friends to the Westergards’ allies to people on both sides that she didn’t recognize. Some of them were carrying cameras, and others had their phones out to take notes on. A few of them (mostly women) were shooting the Westergards angry looks. Nearly all of them were wearing ensembles that cost the same amount of money to outfit an entire orphanage in regular clothing. 

 The jury fidgeted in their seats, playing with their pens and giving each other panicked glances. The lawyers stood at the front of the courtroom on their respective sides. Where they’d been coolly polite before, now Taka Kifalme was unnecessarily smug and Merida was glaring daggers at him. Judge Nedakh’s face was written with grim determination.

“The defendant stands accused,” he recited for those who hadn’t been at the preliminary, “of the repeated rape as well as the assault and battery and attempted murder of Anna Winters. How do you plead?”

“Still not guilty, Your Honor.”

“Many of us expected that you’d say that,” called one of the journalists. “Would you also say that, despite the accusations against you, you still love the woman who accused you of them?”

“Yes,” Hans said with practiced sincerity.

The journalists all started tapping eagerly at their phones and taking pictures, several of the Westergard brothers exchanged smug looks, and the women in the audience either looked furious or daydreamy.

Judge Nedakh banged his gavel.

“Order in the court! Now to begin. Miss DunBroch, do you wish to present us with your evidence now?”

“Yes, yer Honor.” Merida turned her burning blue gaze towards where the audience was seated. “Ah call the first witness, Tiana Rose Campos, teh the stand.”

Tiana stood and brushed invisible dust off the smooth front of her dress. Her stride as regal as a queen’s, she made her way to the front of the courtroom, ignoring the blatant glares and whispers hovering around her. Her chin was drawn up proudly as she took her oath.

“Mrs. Campos, yeh have been living in Washington D.C. fer nearly ten years, is that correct?”

“Yes. My husband and I moved here from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.”

“How long has yer restaurant been in operation?”

“Nine years. In that time, it has been gifted with several recommendations from critics such as Jonathan Gold and Brett Anderson. I have also had my restaurant featured in magazines such as  _Conde Nast Traveler_  and  _Food and Wine._ " 

 "Would yeh consider yerself a reputable and well-respected citizen?”

“Not with my staff. They see my in my apron every day,” Tiana quipped, earning a few laughs from the courtroom. “But in my profession, yes.”

Merida wheeled around to face the jury.

“Yeh all see thah she is a trustworthy citizen?”

“But is she a trustworthy witness, Miss DunBroch?” Judge Nedakh asked.

“See fer yerself, yer Honor.” Merida turned back to Tiana. “Mrs. Campos, how did ye find out about the crimes committed by the defendant?”

“I was told by the victim. She works as a waitress in my restaurant, and one day, she told me in confidence that for years, the defendant had been abusing her in the form of rape and physical assault. The next day, the victim came into my restaurant, and she was followed in by the defendant who wanted her to leave Washington D.C. with him. When she insinuated that she didn’t want to, he stated outright that he’d been hurting her, called her a whore, and threatened to publicly humiliate her if she didn’t come with him.”

“What did she do?” shouted one of the journalists.

“She punched him in the nose.”

One man whistled loudly, and several of the women broke into applause. The audience on the Westergards’ side started looking furious. 

 Anna grinned to herself. So far, so awesome.

“Thank ye, Mrs. Campos,” Merida said. She stepped down to her seat and shot a proud smirk over her shoulder at her clients. Elsa nodded and smiled, Anna beamed, Kristoff gave her a thumbs-up.

Kifalme reached over and picked up some files from Hans’ brothers before he strode up to the front of the courtroom. Tiana kept her proud, unperturbed gaze leveled at him.

“Mrs. Campos,” he said, slowly and deliberately. “You are the employer of the accuser, my client’s ex-fiancee?" 

"I believe I already said that.”

“How many staff members do you have altogether?”

“My husband and I cook the food and clean the restaurant itself, and we have two dishwashers, three busboys, and five waitresses including the victim.”

“Small number.”

“Yes, well.” Tiana drew herself up straighter. “They all work very efficiently. Besides, this way they all get paid more.”

“Do you consider yourself close to your employees?”

“Why is this relevant?”

“Just answer the question, Mrs. Campos.”

“What game is he playing?” Kristoff muttered.

“Hell if I know,” Jack muttered back. “But one of those guys is giving me this really creepy smile, so it can’t be good.”

“Guys, shh,” Elsa whispered.

“Yes, well, I do care about them. Of course I do. Most of them have been around for years.”

“How very kind of you. Were you aware when Anna Winters started her affair with Kristoff Bjorgman?”

“Not at the time. But later, she told me. She seemed really happy about it.”

“We can all safely assume that you wanted her to be happy, yes?”

“Of…course…I…did…” Tiana said slowly, eyeing the lawyer suspiciously. “Where is this going?”

“So you encouraged her to be with Bjorgman? You wanted her to be with him?”

“I wouldn’t put it like that.”

Kifalme pulled a phone out of his pocket and tapped it a few times. A brief audio recording played:

_“…and he loves me a lot. For real this time.”_

_“Well Anna, I wish you both the best of luck.”_

Murmurs swept through the courtroom. Tiana sighed.

“Fine, yes. I encouraged her to be with him. He seemed to make her happy, so I wanted the two of them to be together.”

“And you also wanted her to distance her from her fiancé, yes?”

 Tiana’s eyes grew wide, then narrowed.

“Are y'all implying that I’m part of a plot to somehow scapegoat the defendant?”

“It happens,” Kifalme said, shrugging. “More women then you would think make fake sexual assault claims, and the evidence against my client is quite flimsy. Not to mention, the motive is excellent. Why cause an infidelity scandal and be totally humiliated when one could deflect all the scandal onto the very person you’re trying to get rid of?”

“He thinks this  _isn’t_  humiliating!?” Anna hissed under her breath.

“Objection, yer Honor!” Merida shouted, shooting to her feet. “This is speculation!”

“Overruled. Mr. Kifalme?”

The other man smiled lazily. 

“That’s all I have to say to this witness, Your Honor." 

"Good. Mrs. Campos, you may step down.”

Tiana’s spine was as stiff as steel as she walked down back to her seat. Her expression was stormy, mirroring Anna’s feelings.

“Fuck them,” she hissed under her breath. “Making me out to be some attention-grubbing whore who’d lie about  _being abused_  of all things, when after all these years–" 

She noticed that a few people were staring at her and sucked in a breath.

 _If you don’t want anyone to hear you, you could cuss in sign language,_  Sven offered helpfully from his brother’s other side.

She nodded in thanks, and her hands continued to silently speak her defiance.

"The court will be taking a break to review the facts so far,” Judge Nedakh announced, tapping his gavel once. “Court adjourned." 

The crowd began to file out, chatting excitedly to each other like they were discussing the game so far at halftime. Anna and her friends gathered out on the courthouse steps, silently passing around squares of chocolate and lukewarm coffee. Finally, Jack voiced what they were all thinking:

"This sucks massive balls.”

Kristoff muttered something offensive-sounding in Norwegian, and Sven offered him some more silent profanities.

“Ah  _was_  expecting something sexist in the defense,” Merida growled. “But not this. Most good studies say thah only about ten percent of rape accusations are fake. Usin’ that excuse on an abuse case makes me want teh shoot their balls off.”

“Too bad  _that’s_  illegal too.” Elsa chucked her chocolate wrapper into a nearby trash can.  

Anna was simmering with anger and despair too, but seeing her friends like this put new steel into her. 

“Fuck what the lawyer says,” she declared loudly. “This isn’t over yet. We still have Elsa’s testimony, and mine. We can do this, guys. Don’t give up.”

Elsa and Kristoff’s eyes met hers, questioning.

_Do you still have faith in us? In yourself?_

_Yes._

No unimportant petty squabbles mattered anymore. All that mattered was justice.

_I am so much more – and deserve so much more – than he told me._

Merida got to her feet.

“Ah’ll go see when the jury comes back. Get ready to testify, Elsa.”

The other woman’s face turned ashen, but she nodded steadily.

“I was born ready.”


	14. Chapter 13

Elsa took her place at the witness stand, her face cool and emotionless, her hands gripping the side of the stand like it was her lifeline. She stared out calmly at the courtroom, the veins in her neck as tight as wires. Anna stared up at her sister, silently praying that whatever was upsetting Elsa, it wouldn’t last.

One of the fluorescent lights briefly flickered. Elsa blinked. Her hands twitched, and she abruptly shifted her gaze downward.

Merida must not have noticed this.

“Ms. Frost,” she said, “Ye are the sister of the victim, is that correct? And ye consider yerself close to her?”

“Yes to both questions,” Elsa’s voice was perfectly level. “The second one: especially so since last December.”

“What is yer evidence that the defendant had been mistreating yer sister?”

Elsa took a deep breath.

“I have pictures of repeated bodily harm to her." 

As she spoke, she lifted printed photos out of her purse and held them up for all to see: Anna, in various places and outfits during different seasons, with a purple bruise on her cheekbone, half-healed bite marks at her shoulder, standing up and holding her leg at an awkward angle. In nearly all the pictures, she was with either Elsa or Kristoff and smiling.

Anna unconsciously touched each part of her body as each photo came up. She’d forgotten how much her leg had been sore after that incident. 

"Also,” Elsa continued, “I have met her ex-fiancé. He has…a history…of treating women poorly, and I have first-hand experience of that.”

Murmurs and whispers. Glares. Notes scribbled. 

“And I’m still not done.” As she kept talking, Elsa’s voice grew stronger. “I heard her crying on the phone as she told me all the details she’d kept hidden for years. I, like Mrs. Campos, saw the defendant admit in front of me that he’d been hurting my little sister. I also saw her tell me that it was ‘nothing’ when it hurt her to sit down or there were nail marks on her breasts that had broken the skin. When she came to see me in that restaurant the night she left the defendant and he tried to kill her, I saw the blood on her face and the fact that it still hurt her to move her arms.”

Another photo came up. A selfie shot of the three of them holding up their wineglasses and grinning at the camera. Anna was the one holding the phone. There were still smears of blood on her face, even though she’d done her best to wipe it off. She was holding her arms somewhat stiffly. Her eyes shone, but the pain in her body was obvious.

Elsa inhaled deeply again and straightened her back.

“In conclusion, this is my evidence that the defendant has assaulted, raped, and attempted homicide on my sister, Anna Winters. Thank you for asking, Miss DunBroch.”

The courtroom was suddenly filled with scattered applause. Unfortunately, as Merida took her seat and Kifalme strode up with the most smug expression Anna had ever seen him with, the pride and triumph bubbling up inside her promptly melted. 

“C'mon, sis,” she muttered. “Don’t let him get to you.”

Kristoff took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“Ms. Frost, you say that you have irrevocable claims against my client. Why are they irrevocable?”

“Because I saw them for myself." Her fingers were twitching, almost spasmlike, against their grip on the witness stand. 

 "What’s wrong with her?” Kristoff muttered. “Is she okay?”

“Does she  _look_  okay to you?” Jack’s face had turned ashen. His lips seemed to be forming the words: _Not now, please not now…_  

“So it is because they are your word that they are irrevocable.”

“Because it is not just my word.”

“I think we have already established that there is some bias in the accusations,” Kifalme replied smoothly, and Anna felt the urge to punch him in the face like his client. “And your word is not as irrevocable as you might believe.”

“Why is that?”

“Because of your condition.”

Everyone gaped at the front of the courtroom. What little color was in Elsa’s face promptly drained from it.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied hoarsely, her fingers still jerking like dying spiders.  

Kifalme took a laptop out and pressed a few buttons. A security video in full color and high definition began playing, showing Elsa among unfamiliar people in a meeting room. Her breathing was labored, her face colorless, her limbs beginning to spasm. In the corner of the room, one of the lights was flickering on and off erratically, like someone was overdue for changing the lightbulb.

“Everyone get out,” Elsa was gasping.

The people she was meeting with gaped at her.

“Ms. Frost–”

“OUT!" 

 The business partners filed out, looking at her in confusion and suspicion. Once they left, she collapsed against the table, her body jerking and twitching uncontrollably. She gasped and moaned, tears staining the front of her suit jacket, her eyes wild.

Kifalme hit the pause button. Elsa’s face, frozen in pain and defeat, was mirrored on the laptop screen and in real life. She screwed her eyes shut and twisted her head away.

"Epilepsy, is it?”

“Yes,” she choked out. 

 The attorney addressed the jury.

“This was taken from the security footage of Weselton and Co. from July 14, 2013. How long have you been diagnosed, Ms. Frost?”

“Since…since I was eighteen. I had my first seizure a little after my parents died.”

“Do you have any other medical conditions, Ms. Frost?”

Anna sat rooted to the bench she was on. The world was spinning too fast, the colors too bright and the sounds too loud. Was this how her sister felt all the time?

Oh  _Elsa…_

She turned to look at Kristoff, whose face was as white and shocked as hers must’ve been. So he hadn’t known either.

“Yes.” Elsa’s voice was almost imperceptible. “Up until about four years ago, I had clinical depression. I have also been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome." 

A few people exchanged shocked or scandalized looks. 

"But that doesn’t mean,” her voice cracked, “that I’m not mentally sound enough to testify. My depression is over, my mental disability is mild, I am in control of my body–” Her body was twitching, if mildly, and her breathing had grown ragged. “–and I should not have to tell any of you this. My medical information is classified.”

“Not in such a serious criminal trial, Ms. Frost. Also, we did not access your medical records. We used a public security tape, and the rest you told us of your own free will.”

“I–”

“Mr. Kifalme.” Judge Nedakh’s voice was suddenly sharp. “Let the witness step down. She has said all that she can for now.”

Elsa threw the judge a grateful look before leaving the witness stand. But instead of taking her seat, she ran out of the courtroom. Jack jumped to his feet and ran after her. 

Judge Nedakh stared after them with an impassive expression.

“Your Honor.” Kifalme approached the judge. “It is my opinion that Elsa Frost should not be considered a credible witness. She is obviously not of sound enough mind and body–”

“That is up to the jury to decide,” the judge declared. Hans sat up a little straighter in the defendant’s chair, casting Anna a smug look that made her tremble with fury. The jury all exchanged worried looks. The Westergards mostly exchanged smug ones, except for one curly-haired brunette man who was staring sadly towards the door Elsa had run out through. 

“Court is adjourned." 

The reporters all stampeded out the door, yelling questions.

"Ms. Frost? Where are you? How do you cope with living with such a serious mental disorder?”

“Do you really consider yourself credible enough for court?”

“Have you ever had a seizure during sex?”

“Seriously?”

“What?”

Anna pushed through the crowd, her eyes roving the courthouse for a trace of silvery-blond hair. She elbowed a camerawoman out of the way, and accidentally kicked a journalist in the ankle when the aforementioned woman’s camera flash went off in her face.

“Anna!" 

Before she knew it, a huge rough hand took hers in it.

"We’ll have a better chance of finding Elsa if we stick together.”

“Thank you.”

“Mr. Bjorgman! Why did you think it would be a good idea to start an affair with an engaged woman?”

“No comment,” he grumbled, guiding Anna gently through the reporters as he shoved them out of the way. “Move it! Get out! Why don’t you go ruin someone else’s life?”

Eventually they managed to clear a path, and Anna seized her boyfriend by the arm. 

“What is it?”

“I think I know where she is.”

This time, it was her turn to guide Kristoff as they made their way towards the janitor’s closet. He didn’t even blink in surprise, which must’ve meant he was used to her ways by now. Poor boy.

But even if he had been surprised, there was a clear sound of sobbing and soothing words coming from inside the closet.

“I can’t believe this happened–”

“It’s okay. Remember? You just gotta forget the fear and remember the good things you still have instead.”

“My life is over–”

“No, your life’s not over. Remember everything you like to do: laughing at dumb movies, baking cookies and eating all the dough, painting, reading your Pablo Nessarose or whatever his name is, visiting the monuments…remember doing that with me? With your friends? With Anna?”

Anna opened the door at the sound of her name. Her sister’s mild seizure appeared to be over, but she was crying like her heart had been broken. Jack was holding her and stroking her hair, but he still looked at Anna like,  _I can’t do this alone._

Anna went inside and took her sister’s trembling hand.

“Hey sis,” she said quietly.

Elsa looked up. Her porcelain cheeks were streaked with black, mascara-laden tears, and one of her eyes was still twitching.

“Look Elsa, I understand why you lied to me now. You were scared, you were ashamed, you didn’t want to embarrass me by having a disabled sister. And I forgive you for thinking that and acting on it. Because I love you, perfect or not, no matter what any medical report says. You’re still the – well, not last of my _family_ –” here she looked at Kristoff, “–but you’re the last of my blood, at least until I have kids. Unless you guys wanna have kids first, cause that’s totally up to you. But anyway, my point is that I love you. And I don’t care how this case turns out (although I would  _prefer_  to see Hans locked up) as long as I’m with the people I love.”

A watery smile broke through Elsa’s tears.

“God, I’m stupid sometimes, aren’t I?” she asked softly.

“Must be the blond hair.”

Kristoff cleared his throat loudly. 

“What? You’re the one who still doesn’t like Beyonce, you nimrod.”

“How do you not like Beyonce?” Jack’s trademark mischievous look had returned. “Anna, have you tried hitting him over the head with  _Dangerously In Love_  to knock some sense into him?”

“Sadly, it doesn’t work.”

Kristoff rolled his eyes and walked the rest of the way into the closet to join the group. The four of them hugged each other close, reveling in each other.

“No more secrets,” Elsa said softly. “No more lies. I’m trusting all of you from now on." 

"Also,” Jack added, “next time you have a seizure, let’s call Anna. She seems to be good for you.”

“Honestly, I’ll be useless,” Anna admitted. “I’d probably try to force-feed her chocolate or something.”

“With Elsa, that might work,” Kristoff said thoughtfully.

Elsa hugged them all a little tighter.

“Well, thank all of you anyway.”

“Don’t mention it.”

They all sat like that for a while being close to each other, until there was a knock at the doorframe.

All four of them looked up. Sven and Merida were standing there; the former looking amused as well as relieved and the latter looking pissed off.

“If yer all  _quite_  finished,” she said, “the judge wants ye back in the courtroom. It’s time fer Anna’s testimony.”

“Already?” Anna’s heart rate instantly went from zero to sixty. No wonder everyone else had been so nervous before.

“Yes. Already. So why are ye all canoodlin’ in a janitor’s closet?”

“What the hell is canoodling?” Kristoff asked.

“Alright.” Anna got to her feet. “Let’s do this. I mean, a victim’s testimony is like, the most important part of the trial right? Unless, it’s ya know, a murder case. Unless in that case you’ve got a Ouija board. But those things don’t even work anyway.”

“Anna,” Kristoff said suddenly, “You know we’re here for you, right?”

“No matter what, we’ll be here for you,” Elsa agreed, rubbing her wetwipes against her face to get off the mascara streaks. 

 _I can even insult Hans throughout your testimony if you want,_ Sven offered. 

“I don’t think he speaks sign language, Sven honey,” she admitted. 

_Damn. Well, it’ll help me get some thoughts off my chest._

“Thanks for everything guys,” Anna added, surveying the small crowd. “Now, let’s do this.”

They all strode down the hallways and back into the courtroom with proud gazes and fire in their eyes. Most of the crowd sat down again, but Merida sauntered to the front of the room and Anna to the witness stand.

She stared out at the courtroom, the sea of faces both familiar and unfamiliar staring back at her. Her heart pounded in her ears, blocking out any worries she might have. So many sympathetic people may have been there, but in that moment, she only saw a set each of ice-blue and chocolate-brown eyes.

She took a deep breath, and her vision cleared. 

 "Miss Winters,“ Merida began, "as the victim’s testimony, tell the jury in detail what the defendant did teh ye. Don’t leave anything out.”

Anna’s nails scraped the wood of the witness stand as she began to speak.

“You all heard details from the expert witnesses about what they saw and heard, and they all told the truth. But you haven’t heard the whole truth.” Her eyes locked with Hans’, and she could’ve sworn that his perfect facade flickered for a moment. “That can only come from me.

The defendant and I met almost six years ago. I had just left my sister’s house, looking for a place of my own. He offered me a place to live, I accepted, soon afterwards he proposed to me. Up until he proposed he was always perfectly good to me all the time, but the very night we got engaged was the night that he made me have sex with him for the first time. 

It wasn’t a one-time thing either. Over the next several years, he kept total control over me, hurting me if I disobeyed in any small way, forcing me to have sex even when I pleaded with him to stop, telling me over and over again that he wouldn’t marry me until he was sure I could be a perfect wife. And he also said all the time that I was lucky that he’d taken me in, that what he was giving me was everything a woman like me deserved and more.”   

Kifalme got to his feet. 

“Your Honor, I must protest–”

Anna wheeled on him with the ferocity of a lioness.

“ _Don’t_  interrupt me while I’m speaking,” she snarled, heat searing her throat. “I am testifying to  _inhuman_ crimes committed against me, and you can  _shut up_  until I’m fucking done talking. Do you  _understand?_ ”

Kifalme blinked in what seemed like confusion, before simply sitting down again. 

The brown and blue eyes glowed with pride and love.

“Miss Winters,” the judge reprimanded her. “Sorry, Your Honor. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Anyway, last November I met Kristoff and reunited with Elsa for the first time since I moved out, what felt like forever. The defendant got angry when he found out about Elsa, and forbade me to ever make contact with her again, claiming that it was for my own good. So for months, I was forced to sneak around, and when I got caught once coming home from a party, he beat me within an inch of my life and raped me until I was bleeding." 

The truth hurt her heart as each word came out. She’d truly believed, for at least a little while, that this man had really loved her. 

But at the same time the truth liberated her. She no longer had to hide or cower in the corner, and she no longer believed any lies about love.

She kept her gaze locked with Elsa and Kristoff’s. How had she ever thought that dazzling green eyes were so amazing, when it was really the clarity of the blue and the simplicity of the brown that were really beautiful?

"Then I fell in love. I fell in love with a man who loved me, who asked me what I wanted, who respected me, who backed off when I said no, who didn’t leave me during the occasional rough spot. When the defendant left on his business trip to New York, yes, I slept with Kristoff Bjorgman. Repeatedly. And I liked it.”

A few audience members tittered, but it failed to faze Anna.

“Somehow, someone found out and tattled to the defendant.”

The glamorous woman with long black hair scowled.

“When he came back from his business trip, the defendant was the angriest I’d ever seen him at. He called me worthless trash, a lying bitch, a mindless slut before he dislocated my arms and broke my nose, leaving me on the ground. Then he got his suitcases again and announced his plans to move us to New York. I refused and told him that I was breaking up with him, and then he really lost it. He tried to kill me with a knife, and would’ve done it if I hadn’t bashed his legs with a kitchen chair. That’s when I finally escaped.”

Anna took a deep breath, and her whole body relaxed. 

“I’m bad at metaphors and I’m not good at conclusions either, but Your Honor, that’s all I have to say. And it’s all true. May I step down now?”

Judge Nedakh studied her with something like respect before nodding.

“You may, Miss Winters.”

Anna took her seat to nearly a whole courtroom-full of applause. It felt nice, but it also surprised her. What she’d said…it was, well, just the truth. And she was just Anna. Nothing more.

“Good job,” Tiana murmured to her from behind, and she blushed. 

 "I can’t wait to see the end of this,“ Jack whispered. "You’re a brave lady, sis-in-law.”

No one else said anything to her; but two hands, one cool, slim, and silk-skinned as well as one large, rough, and warm took her own.

As they did, Merida took the front of the courtroom again. As she pleaded her case, and Kifalme pleaded his afterward, their contradicting words seemed to blend together in sync, like alternating lines in a play.

“So ye can all see from the many mouths of trustworthy witnesses, that the defendant Hans Westergard stands before ye guilty of every last crime he is charged with.”

“Such paltry evidence, and the few witnesses the prosecution managed to scrape up are closely linked to the accuser. Also, why would Miss Winters let this go on for so long without reporting it before she met Bjorgman?”

“A woman was abused and traumatized at the hands of the defendant, scared silent until now. Ye all saw the pictures, heard the truth from many people. Why would she lie, when if she were really lying, she would be  _really_  found out and not suffer speculatin’ and antagonism instead?”

“She has nothing to lose by scapegoating the defendant.”

“She had everything to lose. Her good name most of all. Liars dunna want teh sacrifice their precious reputation.”

“The only pieces of physical evidence were purely circumstantial. Anyone can fake pictures with well-applied makeup or digital manipulating software. The witnesses are the so-called victim’s friends and her clearly mentally unstable sister.”

“And another thing. Claimin’ thah Elsa Frost is unsuitable teh testify is pure malarkey. Epilepsy dunna affect the brain’s ability to work, an Asperger’s has teh much stigma against it fer what it is. All people with Asperger’s do is see teh world a wee bit differently.  _All_  the witnesses are mentally stable an respected, law-abidin’ citizens." 

"It is clear. Using biased witnesses and circumstantial evidence, the prosecution intends to use my client as a scapegoat.”

“The defense intends to use speculative 'evidence’ and tired, cliched stereotypes teh try an paint a bad picture of an innocent woman. Anna Winters is the  _victim._  What we need is a verdict of–”

“Not guilty. Because the defendant is not guilty. And it’s as simple as that.”

“Guilty. Because the defendant is guilty. An that’s all ah have teh say about it, yer Honor.”

 

 

As the crowd filed out of the courthouse, Anna and her friends gathered at the courthouse steps again. 

 "I gotta say,“ Jack said, sitting back against the huge slabs of marble, "Merida really nailed it.”

 _I dunno,_  Sven said, his face full of worry. _Kifalme was pretty convincing too._

“Y'all tried your hardest,” Tiana declared. She couldn’t speak sign language, but she correctly read Sven’s expression. “As my daddy always said, 'All you can ever do is try. All that anyone ever did was try.’" 

"What about the guy who invented penicillin?” Sven asked through Kristoff’s mouth.

“He was trying to accomplish  _something,_  wasn’t he? Even if it wasn’t, um, penicillin.”

“Tiana’s right,” Anna said. “We did try out hardest. And it’ll work out somehow. You’ll see.”

“Wait, a moment. Did y'all just  _agree_  with me?” her boss asked dryly.

“I’m a very agreeable person.”

“Sure, honey.”

Merida strode up to the group.

“Hey. Jury’s not goin’ teh be coming back fer about a week or so. Why don’t ye all go home an relax?”

“A week? It takes that long?”

“Ye should be grateful it’s not a murder case. Those take at least a month fer the jury teh come back.”

Apprehensively, the group started standing up, grabbing their things, and hugging each other goodbye.

Anna hugged her sister the most tightly.

“You won’t hurt me,” she murmured.

“I know that now.” Elsa hugged her back. “See you soon.”

“See you soon.”

One more week.

Anna took Kristoff’s hand. She could wait one more week.


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last official chapter before the epilogue!   
> Also, here there be a tiny bit of smut in the beginning. Just because.

The late-spring night had just fallen; but as it was in a city it could hardly be called dark. The dusky evening was layered with splashes of light from street lamps and neon signs, with bright spots on the monuments and the White House. The headlights of many cars glowed as brightly as giant cat eyes.

Night in even a relatively small city like Washington D.C. could hardly be called quiet or still either. Engines roared, footsteps pounded, energy flowed through the city in the form of a low yet steady hum.

In one apartment building in particular, the landlord was speaking to a new tenant who was complaining about that particular problem; i.e. a lot of noise.

“I’m sorry,” the landlord said, trying to keep his patience. “But it is perfectly within his rights to bring his girlfriend to live with him.”

“But I have my children to think of!” the woman complained. “What am I supposed to say to them when they hear yelling and dirty talk from their own neighbors?”

“The truth, perhaps?” the landlord replied dryly, privately thankful that he didn’t have kids. 

As for the neighbors in question, they didn’t have children occupying their minds at that time (which may or may not have been a good thing.)

“It’s – still – not – my turn to do the dishes,” Anna growled, her nails digging grooves into the grain of the dining table.

“You sure of that?” Kristoff murmured, his smirk curving into a half-circle against her neck.

“Certain. I did them yesterday, and – HOLY SHIT DON’T STOP – oh fuck, let’s argue about this–”  _gasp_ “–later.”

“We should argue – more – if it leads – to this,” he managed to pant out, and Anna felt him simultaneously move deeper inside her and press her harder against the top of the table. All thoughts short-circuited and blew out.

They climaxed in unison and finished gasping like they’d just finished a race, clutching each other like lifelines.

“That was unexpected,” Anna exhaled once she’d caught her breath again. “What made you…” She struggled for the words, “…get so excitable?”

Kristoff lifted himself off her, and walked over to the kitchen counter for a paper towel. He was quiet as he wiped the tabletop as nonchalantly as if it were spilled orange juice, his fierce lust clearly replaced with something else.

“I’ve been thinking,” he finally said.

“That’s dangerous.”

He ignored that.

“I know that the trial’s over, and all that we’re doing is waiting for the verdict.”

Anna sat up on the tabletop, her bare freckled legs swinging over the side. “Is that what this is about?” she asked. “Hans?”

She couldn’t help feeling upset and frustrated. When was her idiot boyfriend going to get through his head that he was  _not_  Hans? 

 Her mind wandered to a particular incident that had happened in the beginning of April. She and Kristoff had been out at a cafe for lunch, and they’d been swapping stories. He’d made a sudden hand gesture in her direction, and she’d flinched visibly. He’d been so upset that they’d had to leave without finishing their lunch.  

When they were still getting used to having sex together, every yelp would make him stop, sure that he was hurting her. He was still so careful, always asking her all the time if she was okay. It was such a huge change from what she was used to, and in most ways she loved it; but Anna disliked that Kristoff felt like he had to compare himself to Hans all the time.

It was what made their argument-turned-sex such a surprise. He’d still been sweet enough to ask about her needs the way he always did, but it was interesting to see him being so…fierce.

Kristoff started. “What? No, not really. I just think I realized…he was an idiot.”

Anna stared.

“Why would he look at you and think worthless? He had something so good, and he tried to ruin it.”

Anna stood and leaned her head against his chest. His heart beat swiftly against her skin.

“I don’t think he understood love,” she said softly. “Whatever definition you wanna use. Especially not the selfless, ordinary-acts-of-kindness bit. Or the accepting-people-for-what-they-are, unconditional bit.”

Kristoff rested a hand on her undone hair.

“But you do.”

Elsa’s face flashed in her mind.

“I think I do now, yeah. But what does any of that have to do with you wanting to fuck me like that?”

“Oh uh…” He actually blushed. “Just before we started bickering, I was just thinking how proud and lucky I was to be your boyfriend and how I wanted to show it as best I could. Besides that, you’re very sexy when you’re mad.”

Anna laughed incredulously.

“Get out of here.”

“No seriously.” Kristoff grinned down at her. “Your eyes flash, and when you cross your arms it makes your breasts stick out.” He playfully tapped one of them on the nipple.

“Hey! Didn’t your mother ever tell you to keep your hands to yourself?” She bumped him with her shoulder.

“Sorry.” He bent down and kissed her. “All better?”

“Much. But you need to brush your teeth.”

“You know, I don’t  _need_  a mom,” he called over his shoulder on his way to the bathroom. “All I need is you and your sister bossing me around all the time.”

“Don’t talk to your mother like that young man, or you’ll get a spanking!”

 

 

For once, Elsa’s phone call had not come mid-coitus. It happened after the teeth-brushing, when they were snuggled up together, drifting off to sleep.

The loud sound of Taylor Swift blaring from Anna’s phone shocked them both so much that they fell out of the bed with twin  _thumps_  onto the floor.   

“What the fuck!?”

Anna snatched up the phone.

“ _Elsaaaaaaa!_ ” she shrieked into the receiver. “Do you  _plan_  to make your phone calls at exactly the most inconvenient times!? What could possibly be so important that it interrupts the blissful necessity of sleep!?”

“My, you’re crabby tonight. I was  _about_ to tell you that the jury comes back tomorrow, but I guess you’re not interested.”

Instantly, Anna was wide awake and fully attentive.

“No, wait! Don’t hang up! They sure took their sweet time though; nearly two weeks.”

“Yeah, I know. Can you guys be at the courthouse at eleven in the morning tomorrow? And try not to talk to the judge the way you just talked to me. Not everyone in the courthouse is as nice as I am. Or as hard of hearing, apparently.” Anna could practically  _see_  her sister smirking.

She stuck her tongue out at the phone screen.

“You suck, and I hope you get your hair caught in one of your factory’s machines.”

“Love you, sis.”

“Love you too.”

She put her phone back on the nightstand and got back into bed with Kristoff, who was rubbing his side and wincing.

“The jury’s back?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her again.

“Mmm-hmm.” Her eyelids fluttered.

“Then let’s definitely get some sleep. You need rest…” His eyes drooped closed, and his arms around her shoulders hugged her tighter.

 

 

If the courthouse had been full before, now it was overflowing. It seemed like everyone in all of Washington D.C. who was even slightly connected to the case or who wanted to get ahold of a piece of it had managed to find a spot somewhere in there. Anna could barely squeeze herself on the end of a bench alongside her friends. 

She watched the members of the crowd. The journalists had hungry looks on their faces. Her friends as well as the Westergards and their supporters looked sick with apprehension. The two lawyers had joined the crowd since there was nothing else they could do; and while Taka Kifalme looked almost bored, Merida’s expression was stormy. Hans himself was sitting in the defendant’s chair with a dark-haired, athletic-looking lady cop with a dragon tattoo standing over him; his face astonishingly blank for someone whose freedom hung in the balance.

After about a minute of tense, fidgety quiet, Merida turned around to say to Anna,

“Are ye ready fer the verdict?”

“Frankly, not really.”

“Ah must admit, ah didn’t think thah it would take so long fer the jury teh come back. It’s been nearly two weeks.”

Anna gulped. “Yeah, I know.”

“Are ye alright? Yer nearly as pale as yer sister.”

“I can’t possibly be  _that_  pale. I’m not a vampire.”

Judge Nedakh walked in, and everyone swiftly got to their feet. 

“Y'all best be quiet now,” Tiana whispered to Anna. “I think we need to pay attention.”

By the time everyone sat down again, one member of the jury walked over to the judge and handed him a piece of paper with something unintelligible written on it.

Anna leaned forward.

“Is that the verdict?”

“Shhh. Yeah, I think so.”

The judge took his own seat and surveyed the paper with a flawless poker face.

The entire courtroom held their breath. One second, two seconds maybe…it felt like an eternity.  

Finally, Judge Nedakh lifted his head and spoke.

“For the repeated rape of Anna Winters, the court finds the defendant…guilty.”

Anna’s gasp of joy caught in her throat almost like a sob. Her friends all cheered and started hugging her.

“Order in the court!” the judge thundered, before turning his attention back to the verdict. “For the repeated assault and battery of Anna Winters, the court finds the defendant…guilty.”

Hans turned, and Anna caught his eye. She smiled at him; not a smug smile or a seductive one. A smile of pure unadulterated joy. His face, in contrast, seemed to be frozen in shock and disbelief.

“For the attempted murder of Anna Winters, the court finds the defendant…guilty.”

Elsa was sobbing again, this time with joy, and not even bothering to wipe her eyes. Kristoff forgot that he was in public and gave his girlfriend a huge kiss on the lips.  

“The defendant will remain in custody until the sentence is decided. Court is dismissed.”

The gavel dropped with a final, decisive bang. Hans was hoisted to his feet by the police officer, and she started to take him back outside. As he was dragged out, he still seemed to be in a state of shock, not even struggling or protesting but instead gaping incredulously out around him. 

He didn’t notice most of his brothers giving him vicious death glares. Or the angry women who flipped him the bird and hissed insults. Or the fact that his ex-fiancée whom he’d said would never be cared about by anyone else was being hugged and kissed all over by a happy crowd of people who loved her.

Anna turned her head and took a moment to watch him go. For a moment, she actually felt a little sad. But the moment was broken when she felt Elsa’s cool hand touch her on the shoulder.

“You okay there?”

Anna looked back again. Elsa’s eyes were full of love and concern, even if  she needed to wipe the streaks of mascara off her cheeks again. 

 _Maybe she should invest in_  waterproof  _eye makeup,_  Anna thought.

“Yeah, I’m doing well. I haven’t actually felt this great in a while.”

“Good." 

Elsa almost turned away, but Anna was suddenly struck by inspiration. She grabbed her sister’s hand and put her lips close to Elsa’s ear.

"Wait,” she murmured, “I want you to meet me and Kristoff at the Lincoln Memorial in one hour.”

“Why?” Elsa whispered back. “Are we planning to steal the Declaration of Independence?”

“What, and have to deal with the legal system again from the  _other_  side of it?” Anna rolled her eyes. “Not likely. But I’m pretty sure that somebody’s gonna wanna celebrate this later with a huge party, and I’m pretty sure you two would want to just celebrate with just the three of us." 

Another smile split Elsa’s face.

"Sis, I think you know us too well.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding. So, is that a yes?”

“Trust me. I’ll see you both there.”

Grinning, Anna immediately searched through the thick crowd and found Kristoff pretty quickly. He had been cornered and was being interrogated by a pack of reporters, and giving monosyllabic answers with a very sour expression on his face.

“No. No.  _Fuck_  no. Yes. Go away. No.”

“Oh there you are!” Anna said brightly. “I was wondering. We gotta go, like right now, so could you please say goodbye to these nice people?”

He was only to happy to, and let himself get dragged out of the courthouse by his girlfriend. Even though he had to wait until after she’d said goodbye to everyone who’d come to support her. 

 "So why did we have to leave, like, right now?“ he asked as they got into her car. (Usually when Kristoff went anywhere non-job-related, he took public transport, although he had often commented how nice it was that Anna would share her Volkswagen. The  _Arendelle’s_  van was a  _little_  bit conspicuous.)

"We’re meeting the sister,” Anna replied casually, jumping into the driver’s seat and unconsciously loading a Florence and the Machine album into the CD drive. “I figure the two of you would want some time to chill with just me before someone has a big party. Do you think somebody’s going to have a big party?”

“Twenty bucks and the next shift at dishwashing duty says it’s my mom.”

“Yeah, I’m not taking that bet.”

 

 

Elsa’s Prius was already parked when they arrived at the monument. The early spring afternoon was already in full swing, with the cherry blossoms dancing on the breeze. The sun was already starting to bake the air into warm golden light, and the grass under her feet was clearly freshly watered. The city hummed, almost in pleasure, and the white marble of the many other monuments glowed like they’d been carved from the quarry just yesterday.

Elsa sat waiting for them on the steps, surrounded by a smattering of pre-season tourists. Several of the men and even a couple of the women seemed to have forgotten that they were there to gawp at the _monument._

The trio ignored the tourists however, and sat down together. They gazed out at the city, so close together that their shoulders brushed each others’. Kristoff took an only slightly melted chocolate bar out of his pocket and shared it with the two women. For a while, none of them needed to say anything. 

In the meantime, Anna thoughtfully fingered her braids and occasionally looked at the two of them.

“Wow,” she said suddenly. “I love this city.”

“Really?" 

"Yeah. Look at it! This place was built on freedom. There’s so much history here; history of America itself, which is you know basically my ultimate problematic fave. Damn, if I were around during the Revolution, I’d have chopped off my hair and gone right up there to fight alongside George Washington himself.”

“You’re not drunk, are you?” Kristoff asked, a smirk on his face that belied the severity of his tone.

“Are you kidding? This is a great place.” Anna sat back on her hands. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else." 

"Is that why you didn’t want to go to New York?” Elsa teased.

“No stupid. I didn’t want to go to New York because you guys don’t live there.”

Their joking expressions vanished. Immediately, Anna felt embarrassed. Maybe now wasn’t the time to be talking about her past at all.

“For the record,” Kristoff said softly, taking her hand, “I wouldn’t want to move to New York without you either.”

“Me neither.” Elsa’s eyes moved back from over the green park space to gaze into her sister’s. “Anna, you shouldn’t feel bad about what happened to you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kristoff agreed. “And we still love you no matter what.”

Anna exhaled, puffing out her cheeks as she did. A few cherry blossoms wafted in on the May breeze.

“I really love you too. And…you both need to stop assuming that you have to be perfect too.”

“We don’t do that–”

“Yes you do. Elsa, you should’ve told me about your epilepsy and Asperger’s. I wouldn’t’ve judged you. Kristoff, you need to stop thinking that every tiny mistake makes you like Hans. I know you love me. You both need to stop thinking that you need to be perfect–” She was struck by another thought, “–and you both need to stop treating me like I’m going to break.”

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Elsa whispered.

“I know that. And I love you for caring about me instead of just treating me like crap, like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named–”

“Voldemort?”

“Funny, Bjorgman. Very original. What was I saying?” She twirled her braid between her fingers. “Oh yeah. Anyway, I’m not porcelain, I’m a person. You guys may make small mistakes, I know, and it may hurt a while, but because you love me and you forgive me for my own fuck-ups, you guys gotta remember that I’ll do the same for you. It’s not the same as when the person  _means_  to hurt you.  _That’s_ unforgivable.”

Elsa laughed a little.

“This is the janitor’s closet all over again. When did my little sister whose diapers I helped change get so wise?”

“Well, you haven’t changed my diapers anytime  _recently…_ ”

Kristoff laughed too.

“Let’s hope not.”

Anna shoulder-bumped him, and sat back again.

“You martyrs get what I’m saying here?”

“I think so.” Elsa drew her knees up and rested her chin on them. 

“But you understand what we’re saying too, right?” Kristoff asked.

“Course.”

They were quiet a little longer, and the sun gradually moved behind the monument. But the heat still lingered in the air and had leaked into the marble, so all three of them stayed plenty warm.

“Elsa? Kristoff?”

“Yeah?” they replied in unison.

“Don’t ever leave me either. Ever again.”

Neither of them said anything. Instead, they both leaned in from both sides and rested their heads on her shoulders, gazing up at her.

Anna wrapped her arms around their shoulders and shut her eyes. 

Abe Lincoln gazed down at them serenely. The warmth of the spring day ghosted down until it finally surrounded the city. Summer was coming, after all.


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of this story! Thanks to all of you here and on Tumblr who reblogged, kudos'ed, liked, commented, or just read it. You are all awesome.
> 
> By the way, the song Anna dances to at the end was totally this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCLY0Rlx6Q

The party was in full swing. Music poured from the speakers that had been hooked up to someone’s laptop (probably Garnet’s, considering how grumpy she looked). The table set up in the living room was groaning with piles of appetizers and tall bottles of drinks. Dozens of people were making a crowd even in such a big house.

As Kristoff had predicted, his mother had heard the news about their successful trial and had insisted on celebrating. Naturally, she’d invited family members and friends from all sides, but there were also a few people who Anna couldn’t work out where they’d come from. It seemed that every five seconds, some random person would come up and hug her or introduce themselves. She’d already begun to lose track…was Aiko the one with the glasses, or the one chewing bubblegum? 

Chaotic as it was, she loved it. So many people…it was exhilarating to be a part of such a big party in such full swing. Especially the  _center_  of it.

Taking another swig from her glass of champagne, Anna searched the room. So many new faces, now burned in her memory. Old faces, too. Just five minutes ago she’d reunited with Rapunzel, who had now apparently changed her hair, gotten married, and was her and Elsa’s cousin. Who could have guessed it?

But she’d been here for nearly two hours, and she still hadn’t seen…

“Anna! Is that you, dear?”

She wheeled around from the table. Bulda herself stood before her, wearing a moss-green dress and beaming proudly.

“It is you! Oh, and you’re wearing the dress I gave you last Christmas!”

Anna grinned and fingered the delicately embroidered rosemaling designs. It had been her own idea, and when she introduced it at work, her friends had all been heartily supportive. 

“Sucking up to your future mother-in-law?” Meg had grinned.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it ‘sucking up’…” she’d protested, ignoring the other part of the question.

Bulda wrapped Anna up in one of her signature bone-crushing hugs. 

“I’m so happy to see you here and enjoying yourself! Makes me feel like you’re really my daughter.”

“In-law,” Anna mumbled against a mouthful of fabric.

“Call it whatever you like, you’re still family. Now if only Kristoff would stop being so shy and just propose…”

“Thanks, but it’s a little soon!” Anna laughed.

“Well, if you insist.”

Another one of the Bjorgmans sidled up to join them.

“If you ever change your mind,” he said. “I’m licensed to conduct marriages. Come see me.”

“Now now, Stein, wait until Kristoff actually pops the question!”

“When he does,” Stein called over his shoulder as he left, “I want to be the first to know!”

Bulda rolled her eyes.

“He’s got good intentions and the right idea, at least.”

“Don’t tell Stein,” Anna whispered, “But when it happens, I’m probably actually going to tell Elsa first.”

“Understandable.”

“Hey, um, where is Elsa? Didn’t she say she was coming?”

Bulda shrugged.

“I suppose she did. But I haven’t seen her all night, dear.”

Anna’s heart sank.

“Now now, don’t fret. She’ll be here! But speaking of which, where is my oldest son?”

Her heart sank even further.

“You haven’t seen Kristoff all night either?”

“Not since he went out to get more ice at around eight; just before the party started.”

Anna looked up at the clock on the wall. Ten-thirty.

“That boy,” Bulda muttered. “Ah well. No use getting upset about something you can’t control! Now come. There are some more people I’d like you to meet.”

 

 

Another hour passed. The party continued at full pace and full volume.

Anna danced around the middle of the living room with Tiana, who, as it turned out, knew all the lyrics to the “Flawless” remix. Rapunzel’s husband Eugene caught Crag in the bathroom making out with what he claimed later was a Halle-Berry-as-Catwoman poster. Merida ate the whole plate of salmon bruschetta and then managed to argue her way out of trouble with the angry Bjorgmans. 

Eventually, Anna called five to lie down on the couch and shut her eyes. She was buzzing with joy and energy, and had to take a moment to appreciate it. The light and noise blazed through her mind, and a grin spread across her face.

But she was startled out of her reverie by the buzz of her cell phone.

 _Who could possibly want to text me_  now  _of all times?_

She checked the text, and her scowl turned into an even wider grin.

_Anna, this is your sister. Come upstairs, first door on the left._

She got to her feet.

“Are you going somewhere?” one of the Bjorgmans (she was pretty sure it was Amy) called. “Aunt Crystal just brought out the cake.”

Anna’s head snapped around.

“What kind of cake?” she asked, trying and failing to keep the longing tone out of her voice.

Amy scratched her hair.

“Double chocolate. Why?”

“Okay, where I’m going can wait a second,” Anna told her, and immediately scrambled to get in line.

She normally would’ve only taken a minute or so to grab her cake, but unfortunately the line made that impossible. It was nearly fifteen minutes before she managed to scramble up the stairs to the bedroom where Elsa had told her to go.

Still holding her plate piled with cake in one hand, she threw the door open. A moment passed.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“Damn it Anna, what took so long!?”

“There was a long line for dessert,” she explained with one hand over her eyes; which would’ve been a nice gesture if she weren’t peeking through her fingers.

“ _Dessert!?_  Well, I can see what  _your_  priorities are.”

“ _My_  priorities!?” Anna took her hand off her eyes and gawked. “What about  _your_  priorities!?”

“Don’t look!” Jack yelled, frantically pulling the bedsheets over himself.

It took them a few minutes, but the couple managed to get their clothes back on. Jack ran downstairs, his face scarlet.

“And I thought Kristoff and I were bad,” Anna remarked, sitting down on the floor next to Elsa. “So…why am I here?”

“Speaking of your furry little boy toy, you’re here because he and I want to talk to you,” Elsa replied. Her face was still red, and her usually neat hairdo was a disaster, but she still managed to keep her tone calm.

“That’s great! What about?”

“The two of us have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” Anna had to hide a smile. Perfect. Maybe after they surprised her, she could tell them…

Kristoff appeared at the door.

“Elsa? Are we ready to tell her?”

Elsa grabbed her purse off the bed, which drew Kristoff’s eye to it.

“Uh, Elsa, why are the sheets on my parents’ bed all tangled and messed up?”

“No reason.”

Anna was suddenly overcome with a fit of the giggles, and Elsa thwacked her with a pillow. 

“You know what,” Kristoff sighed, “I don’t actually want to know." 

He sat down on Anna’s other side. 

"You ready?”

“Sure.”

Elsa dug a laptop out of her purse and tapped a few keys. An Internet page advertising D.C. real estate popped up.

Anna squinted at the screen. 

“What am I looking at?”

“An apartment,” Elsa explained. “It was Kristoff’s idea. He thought that you might want to have your own place and not have to shack up with him.”

“Your crazy sister said that you were fine living in my tiny apartment,” Kristoff said, rolling his eyes.

There was a long moment of quiet as Anna stared at the screen.

“When I was eighteen,” she said softly, “having my own apartment would’ve been my everything. For years, having my own place would’ve been my idea of escaping from whomever I was living with at the time, and I secretly longed for it.” She looked up at the two of them. “But I don’t have anything to escape anymore.”

She closed the lid of the laptop.

“If you don’t mind, I’m gonna stay where I am, thanks.” Her tone left it clear that it wasn’t a request.

“I knew it,” Elsa whispered.

Kristoff didn’t say anything, didn’t contradict her, he just hugged her tightly.

“And now,” Anna added, her somber mood evaporating, “I’ve got a surprise for you two.”

She fished around in the pockets of her dress until she found the crumpled-up letter. With a grin and a flourish, she uncrumpled the letter and held it up.

Kristoff read it aloud.

“'Dear Miss Winters, we are pleased to announce that you have been accepted to the University of the District of Columbia. We look forward to having you in class this fall.’ You’re going to college!?”

Anna blushed and folded the paper back into her pocket.

“It’s only night classes, and it’s at the community college. They had put me on a athletic scholarship to even let me afford it–”

She was interrupted by both of them tackle-hugging her. 

“Anna, that’s amazing!” Elsa cried. 

“We’re so proud of you.”

Anna sniffled.

“You know you’ll be seeing less of me cause I’ll be in classes, right…?”

“If this is what you really want, Anna, it doesn’t matter.”

“We’ll work it out.”

She hugged them back even tighter.

“Thanks you guys. For everything.”

“You don’t thank someone for loving you, Anna.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. All three of them looked up to see Tiana standing before them with a slight smile on her face.

“Y'all okay there?”

“Yeah.” Anna dabbed her eyes with her knuckle. “We’re all good.”

“Good. Cause everyone downstairs is wanting the reason for the party to come back down. And they want your entourage to come with you.”

“Entourage?” Elsa pretended to be offended. 

“You guys heard the lady!” Anna seized both of them by the wrists and dragged them back downstairs. They were met by thunderous applause.

“She’s back!” someone yelled.

“So that’s where those two went.”

“Kristoff Johannes Bjorgman!” Bulda yelled. “You nearly gave me a heart attack worrying!”

“Sorry, Mom.”

 _Come on, Anna! They want you on the dance floor!_  Sven exclaimed. 

The music blasted, fast and full of energy. As she whirled in circles, she could see everyone’s face, full of love and joy, all surrounding her. As the song continued, more and more people joined her.

Two hands took hers. As Anna shut her eyes and danced, she knew they would never let her go.

_–Fin–_


End file.
